Crvena Zvezda – Lille

In Belgrade, fans will see goals from both teams

Red Star Belgrade at the start of the season planned to reach the knockout stage of the Champions League and continue its dominance in the national championship, where it usually wins by twenty points or more. In August last year the first target was missed when the Belgrade club failed to pass Pafos in the Champions League qualifying playoff. After Red Star lost first place in the Serbian league, the decision to dismiss the coach became obvious. At the end of December, the team was led by Dejan Stanković, who had been dismissed from Spartak Moscow a month and a half earlier. Meanwhile, the fortunes of the Serbian champions under him improved. Over the next two months under Stanković Red Star failed to win more than one match, drawing at home with Spanish Celta Vigo. Lille has earned a reputation as one of the strongest representatives of Ligue 1 in recent years. Roughly on par with Monaco and Marseille. At the same time, over the last two transfer windows the team sold its leaders led by Jonathan David, making it less competitive. The only notable addition recently is Gaëtan Perrin, who has been proving himself in recent matches, but the 29-year-old midfielder is still settling into his new place after a six-month sojourn in Russia. Bookmakers have not determined the favourites for the upcoming match, offering roughly equal odds on either side. The Red Star players, ahead of the return match with Lille, are in an exceptionally good mood. Not only did the Belgrade club win in France with a score of 1:0, but also won the central match of the entire season in Serbia. The 3-0 victory over Partizan not only led to the coach's dismissal among the fiercest rivals, but also increased the lead over them to four points. As for Lille, the team will come to Belgrade for the second time this season. In early November last year, at the group stage the 'Dogs' lost to the champions of Serbia with the same score as the first leg of this playoff duel - 0:1. Given Lille's quality, we'll bet that for the third time the opponents will exchange goals.