BELGRADE — The ball came off a clearance, landed on his chest, and Sergio Peña did what he has always done best: he hit it clean from distance. Goalkeeper Miloje Prekovic, according to the match report, did not move. He watched the ball cross the line.
The goal came in the 67th minute of OFK Belgrade's 4-1 victory over Novi Pazar in the third matchday of Group A of the Mozart Bet Superleague. Donimani Yakuba Silue and Jovan Sljivic had already done the early work. Peña provided the exclamation point — his first start of the season, his first goal for the club.
The context matters. Novi Pazar arrived at the fixture unbeaten and had not lost to OFK Belgrade in more than a decade, according to the source. The result was, in the source's word, an 'authentic knockout.' OFK now sits fourth in the Mozart Bet Superleague table with four points from nine possible, behind FK Čukarički Stankom, Red Star, and FK IMT. Their next fixture is against FK Železničar Pančevo.
For Peña, the personal arc is steeper than the table position suggests. His previous club, Sakaryaspor, was a dead end: no meaningful contribution and a relegation. Before that, a sexual abuse scandal removed him from Alianza Lima. The season opener for OFK — a 4-0 defeat to FK Vojvodina — saw him enter the pitch for only seven minutes, with the result already decided. He came on as a substitute again in the second match, a scoreless draw at home against Radnik Surdulica.
Coach Jovan Damjanović gave him the start against Novi Pazar. He repaid it in the second half.
The question that now follows Peña from Belgrade to Lima is whether this performance accelerates a return to the Peruvian national team. Coach Mano Menezes, according to the source, will monitor his evolution at OFK closely. The source notes that the door to the national squad remains open and that his performances in the Mozart Bet Superleague could determine his next call-up.
One goal does not rebuild a career. But the record of this particular afternoon — away from home, against an unbeaten side, with a finish that required both technique and nerve — is the kind of evidence a selector notices.
Say it plainly: Peña is 29, playing in a mid-tier European league, rebuilding from a low point that was as much personal as professional. What he did on Friday is not a redemption arc complete — it is one data point. The incentive structure, however, is now aligned: play well in Serbia, earn a ticket back to the national team. Follow the performance, not the press release. The next few matchdays will say more than this one ever could.
