Cleo, who was granted Serbian citizenship last week, was a constant threat with darting runs through the middle.
He was among the Partizan players singled out by Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger after the pulsating Group H clash in the Serbian capital on Tuesday.
"I thought that four Partizan players, but Cleo and the goalkeeper (Vladimir Stojkovic) in particular," played very well," Wenger said after his team made it two wins out of two.
"Partizan are a passionate team and they gave us the game we expected," he added.
Although Partizan's midfield carved out few openings for the hitman, he made good use of the ball in possession. The one sour note was that he missed a second spot kick late in the game.
"We will monitor his performances now that he has become a Serbian citizen but I will not call him up for the upcoming (Euro 2012) qualifiers against Estonia and Italy," Petrovic, who took over from Radomir Antic earlier this month, said last week.
'WORST DAY'
Former Yugoslavia midfielder Petrovic, who was at Arsenal in the 1982/83 season, felt Cleo needed more time before sampling international football but he had no hesitation in recalling Stojkovic, who was dropped after Serbia's early World Cup exit.
"It feels like the worst day in my life because of the way I let in the second goal so it kind of overshadows all the good saves I made," Stojkovic said.
"I want to dedicate the penalty save to our defender Marko Jovanovic, who left the pitch in tears after he was sent off."
Stojkovic should help bolster Serbia's defensive line and, with the national team's first-choice strikers out of form, Cleo could become the perfect remedy for their lack of firepower.
