After an overwhelming 3-0 loss in the first leg, Red Star Belgrade hopes to overturn their misfortunes in the UEFA Europa League against Rangers this Thursday at the Stadium Rajko Mitic with kickoff at kickoff 8:45 pm.
It was no exaggeration to say that Rangers were lucky to beat the home team, Red Star Belgrade, by the score of 3–0 in the first leg of their UEFA Cup first-round duel. The Scottish champions had scored and conceded three goals apiece in their match on Red Star’s field a week before. The difference between the two teams turned out to be that all three of Red Star’s goals were disallowed for tiny offsides—right calls all around.
Serbian champions Red Star Belgrade missed a penalty as their hero Aleksandar Katai was denied by Allan McGregor from the spot.
Nevertheless, a decent performance at Ibrox Stadium will count for little for Belgrade, who now have a mountain to climb to try and bounce back with a win by at least three goals difference (to earn extra-time) in the return leg. This is on Thursday night at Stadion Rajko Mitic, which is all but impossible.
Both Red Star Belgrade and Partizan Belgrade had successful weekends in domestic competitions. After a 1-2 victory over Metalac GM on Monday, Red Star Belgrade overtook bitter city rivals Partizan Belgrade at the top of the Super Liga standings.
Red Star vs Rangers Head to Head
Both sides have three games against each other, with hosts still winless, whereas the visitors with two wins. Here is a look at their previous encounters:
Home
- Gornji 1-2 Red Star
- Rangers 3-0 Red Star
- Red Star 5-0 FK Novi
- FK Vozdovac 0-3 Red Star
- Red Star 2-0 FK Partizan
Away
- Dundee 0-3 Rangers
- Rangers 3-0 Red Star
- Rangers 1-0 Aberdeen
- Johnstone 0-1 Rangers
- Rangers 2-2 Motherwell
Red Star Belgrade Team News
Stankovic will be without Nikolic for Thursday’s match against Rangers, as the home side has seven players who are one yellow card away from suspension.
Rangers Team News
Giovanni van Bronckhorst may use the same XI that started Rangers’ resounding first-leg victory over FK Crvena Zvezda. Ianis Hagi and Nnamdi Ofoborh are both unavailable for the away side, as neither Aaron Ramsey nor Amad Diallo featured in any capacity at the weekend.
Prediction and Odds
Red Star Belgrade was unlucky not to get a positive result in the first leg against Celtic. They’ll benefit from playing at home on Thursday.
- Rangers Win
- Goals Over 2.5
- Both Teams to Score
