(Football news) This is the first meeting between the two teams since matchday one in September at the Etihad Stadium, when the Citizens overcame a 1-0 deficit at halftime to defeat Red Star 3-1.
Red Star Belgrade’s encounter with Manchester City on Wednesday marks their penultimate European match of the 2023–24 season. Having lost four and drawn one of their five Champions League games, they are certain to finish last in Group G and therefore miss out on all of Europe.
Matchday five two weeks ago saw Red Star lose 2-0 away to Young Boys, extending their losing record in the Champions League to nine games. As a result, they lost the opportunity to move up into third place in the group and into the Europa League.
Since then, Bakhar’s team has responded by winning their previous three home games with a 9-1 overall record, which included a 3-1 victory at home in Serbian SuperLiga last weekend.
Goals from Katai, Mijatovic, and Hwang helped league leaders Red Star secure all possible points and shatter the record held by Real Madrid from 1957 to 1965 for the longest league run without a loss on home soil in Europe: an incredible 122 games without a loss dating back to 2017.
In order to avoid suffering back-to-back home losses in the competition for the first time since losing 4-0 and 6-0 to Tottenham Hotspur and Bayern Munich, respectively, in November, Red Star will now focus on their dead-rubber Champions League match against Man City on Wednesday.
Also read: Manchester United crash out of the UCL
