BELGRADE, Nov 17 (Reuters) – Former European Cup winners Red Star Belgrade twice came from behind to beat Serbian champions and league leaders Partizan 3-2 in a pulsating city derby to cut their advantage at the top to five points.

Partizan, who are chasing a record sixth successive league title, have 33 points from 13 games while Red Star – who won Europe’s premier club competition in 1991 – have 28 after a resilient performance which rekindled memories of former glories.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Former Euroleague champions Maccabi Tel Aviv and Zalgiris Kaunas saw their perfect starts end in a pulsating sixth round of the preliminary group stage while Fenerbahce were undone by a last-gasp shot at unfancied Khimki Moscow.

Barcelona, the 2010 winners, remained the only unbeaten team after a comfortable 86-66 victory at Germany’s Brose Baskets Bamberg while holders Olympiakos Piraeus continued their recovery from a poor start with an 89-72 success at Caja Laboral at Vitoria on Friday.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – The Serbian government will help refinance debt-ridden soccer giants Red Star and Partizan Belgrade and have appointed managers to temporarily run Red Star, the Balkan country’s deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said.

Vucic had called a press conference in the early hours of Wednesday to announce the refinancing after Red Star chairman Vladan Lukic resigned on Tuesday saying he was exhausted from struggling with managing the club’s debt of about 60 million euros ($76.27 million) and from a poor run of results.

BELGRADE, Nov 14 (Reuters) – The Serbian government will help refinance debt-ridden soccer giants Red Star and Partizan Belgrade and have appointed managers to temporarily run Red Star, the Balkan country’s deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic said.

Vucic had called a press conference in the early hours of Wednesday to announce the refinancing after Red Star chairman Vladan Lukic resigned on Tuesday saying he was exhausted from struggling with managing the club’s debt of about 60 million euros ($76.27 million) and from a poor run of results.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Red Star Belgrade president Vladan Lukic stepped down on Tuesday amid fan pressure ahead of the team’s crunch city derby with Serbian champions Partizan Belgrade.

Lukic, who took over in May 2009, said on the club’s official website (www.crvenazvezdafk.com) he had lost the energy required to get the 1991 European Cup Winners back on the rails after a long barren spell.

BELGRADE, Nov 13 (Reuters) – Red Star Belgrade president Vladan Lukic stepped down on Tuesday amid fan pressure ahead of the team’s crunch city derby with Serbian champions Partizan Belgrade.

Lukic, who took over in May 2009, said on the club’s official website (www.crvenazvezdafk.com) he had lost the energy required to get the 1991 European Cup Winners back on the rails after a long barren spell.

BELGRADE, Nov 11 (Reuters) – Serbian champions Partizan Belgrade stayed firmly on course for a record sixth successive league title after they went eight points clear the top with a 2-0 home win over struggling Radnicki Kragujevac.

The result left Partizan in the driving seat with 33 points from 12 matches, eight more than bitter city rivals Red Star who slipped to a 1-0 defeat at neighbours OFK.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Barcelona demolished six-times winners CSKA Moscow 81-60 on Friday to stretch their perfect Euroleague basketball record to five victories while holders Olympiakos Piraeus triumphed 84-71 at Emporio Armani Milan.

Joy for Italian fans came from an unlikely source as Mapooro Cantu, who reached the group stages through an eight-team qualifying tournament, blew away Fenerbahce 82-58 to rekindle memories of the club’s glory days.

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Inter Milan and Bayer Leverkusen cruised into the Europa League knockout stage with emphatic wins on Thursday but holders Atletico Madrid and former winners Liverpool suffered surprise defeats.

Russia’s Rubin Kazan, Olympique Lyon, Hanover 96 and Metalist Kharkiv joined Bayer and treble UEFA Cup winners Inter in sealing their progress to the last 32 with two games to spare.