Serbian champions Crvena zvezda (or Red Star Belgrade if you prefer) will host Barcelona for their first meeting in the UEFA Champions League era. The hosts will want to avoid a fourth consecutive defeat in Europe, but the visitors will be the overwhelming favourites.
By Neel Shelat
Red Star outmatched in the Champions League
Crvena zvezda have been absolutely dominant in Serbia in recent times. They have won each of the last seven Super Liga titles, also winning the Cup to complete domestic doubles in each of the last four seasons. Since 2020, their final points tallies have been quite something: 108, 100, 97 and 96 last term. They have completed two invincible seasons and lost just four league games in those four seasons.
Despite such dominance, Red Star used to be pushed to a decent extent by city rivals Partizan in the past. The 10-time Super Liga winners have been plagued by massive financial and management issues in the 2020s, so they have fallen off to a significant extent. This has left Crvena zvezda without any serious domestic competition, which hasn’t seemed to have helped them in Europe either.
In 2022/23, the Serbian giants finished at the bottom of their four-team group in the Europa League. Last term, they only managed to come away with one point from six games in the Champions League, and their current record is even worse as they have lost all three games in the league phase so far.
A chance for Barcelona to rotate?
Injury issues have been a major concern for Barcelona in recent years. At the moment, they are the only blot on an otherwise fantastic start to the season under Hansi Flick, as three defenders and three others are unavailable.
With an international break coming up after the weekend’s fixtures, Barcelona’s schedule isn’t too congested for the next couple of weeks, but of course, many of their stars will be quite busy as they go on international duty. So, they might want to use this opportunity to give some of them a bit of rest.
The trouble for Flick is that his first-team squad is pretty thin, so he does not have a great deal of senior options. Among them, the likes of Gavi and Frenkie de Jong have just returned from long injury layoffs and will need to be carefully handled. The Spanish teenager hasn’t started a game in all of 2024, while the Dutchman’s last full 90 was all the way back in February.
The swarms of talent coming through La Masia have been pivotal to Barcelona’s recent success, so a good few of them should be spotted in this match. At the same time, some key youngsters such as Lamine Yamal and Pau Cubarsí could also do with some rest, though the lack of alternatives will make it difficult for them to get it.
Prediction
Crvena zvezda 1-4 Barcelona
Even if they rotate the team as much as reasonably possible, Barcelona surely have the quality to overwhelm Red Star. The Serbian champions’ domestic dominance means that their defence isn’t very solid as they have already shipped 11 goals in three Champions League match days so far.
(Cover image from IMAGO)
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