Preview: Red Star Belgrade vs Benfica – Prediction, Team News, Lineups

Portuguese giants Benfica start the 2024-25 season Champions League campaign with a trip to Serbia, where they will face Red Star Belgrade on Thursday evening.

The two teams met for the first time in 40 years when Benfica won a thrilling first-round European Cup tie in 1984, beating them 4-3 on aggregate.

Match preview

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After being eliminated from the group stage of last year’s Champions League, Red Star Belgrade returned to the big game on the continent by defeating Norwegian team Bodo/Glimt in the play-off stage.

Despite losing the first leg 2-1 away, Red Star secured a 2-0 home win in the return match, thanks to goals scored either side of the break by Bruno Duarte AND Uros Spajicwinning 3-2 overall and ending August on top.

Since then, Vladan MilojevicLegia’s charges began September with two consecutive wins in the Serbian Super League without a draw against Radnicki Kragujevac and Napredak, beating the latter 2-0 at home last weekend.

Crvena Zvezda have won all of the last seven Serbian Superliga titles and have started the new season strongly. They are three points clear at the top of the table, having won six and drawn one of their first seven matches, scoring 21 goals and conceding just four.

However, Champions League success has been hard to come by for Crvena Zvezda, as they have lost 14 of their previous 18 matches in the competition, with only Malmo (83%) having a worse defeat rate than the Serbs (78%). Milojevic’s team have never lost to Portuguese opponents on home soil (W2 D1).

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Benfica are competing in the Champions League for a fourth consecutive time and will be hoping to avoid another quick exit after being knocked out in the group stage of last season’s competition by reaching the quarter-finals in the 2022-23 season.

Last season, the Eagles finished second in the Primeira Liga table, 10 points behind champions Sporting, and after five games they are already five points behind their Lisbon rivals, having dropped points in matches against Famalicao (0-2 defeat) and Moreirense (1-1 draw).

Roger Schmidt he was sacked by Benfica after the draw with Moreirense and has since been replaced Bruno Lagewho returned to the club four years after his first spell as manager and led the Eagles to a convincing 4-1 home victory over Santa Clara last weekend.

After conceding the opener inside the first 30 seconds, Lage was pleased with his team’s response and believes the result “was the first step” in winning back the club’s “most loyal” supporters ahead of what “will be a long season”.

Benfica will be looking to make a positive start to their Champions League campaign, having won just one opening match in their last seven appearances in the competition, and have won just one of their last eight Champions League matches overall (D2, L5).

Red Star Belgrade’s form in the Champions League:

Red Star Belgrade’s form (all competitions):

Benfica form (all competitions):

Team News

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Red Star goalkeeper Omri Glazer He has recovered from a long-term adductor injury to make his first appearance of the season last weekend. The 28-year-old is expected to remain on the pitch.

Milojevic is expected to name his strongest team Nasser Dziga potentially brought back into the centre-back position to play alongside Uros Spajić, while Rade Krunic, Timi Elsnik AND Mirko Ivanic all connecting arms in aid.

Bruno Duarte is the club’s top scorer so far with six goals in nine appearances, and the Brazilian-born striker is expected to lead the attack once again, Silas AND Piotr Olayinka providing support in the flank attack.

As for Benfica, it will be without Renato Sanches (thigh), Fredrik Aursnes (muscle) and Tiago Gouveia (shoulder) due to injury.

Left defender Jan-Niklas Beste managed to shake off a muscle injury and qualify for the matchday squad last weekend, and the summer signing from Heidenheim has a chance of featuring in some lineup on Thursday.

Antonio Silva, Florentino Luis, Kerem Akturkoglu AND Angel Di Maria all teams scored goals in the victory over Santa Clara and all are ready to maintain their place in the starting eleven.

Possible starting lineup for Red Star Belgrade:
Glazer; Mimovic, Djiga, Spajic, Seol; Krunic, Elsnik; Silas, Ivanic, Olayinka; Duarte

Benfica’s possible starting lineup:
Trubina; Bah, Silva, Otamendi, Carreras; Florentino, Kokcu; Di Maria, Rollheiser, Akturkoglu; Pavlidis

We say: Red Star Belgrade 1-2 Benfica

Red Star will be seen as the underdogs in Thursday’s contest, but Benfica can’t take them lightly at home. Despite this, we still expect the Portuguese side to get the job done and take maximum points on the first matchday.

To see a data analysis of most probable scores, results and more for this match, click here.

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