Manchester City - FK Crvena Zvezda Tip 19-09-2023

The UEFA Champions League is back in our lives this week as we get ready for the group stage of the competition. Thirty-two of the biggest and best clubs from across Europe will come together in an attempt to make their push for a place in next year’s final in London. Today, we’ll be taking a look at what should be a fun encounter between AC Milan and Newcastle United.

Manchester City, as we all know, are coming off the back of a treble-winning season. The aim is to try and repeat that achievement and so far, they’ve done an excellent job of leading people to believe that’s exactly what is going to happen. Pep Guardiola is a mastermind and at the Etihad, you’d have to imagine the current feeling is that they’re untouchable on the pitch.

City beat Burnley 3-0 to open up the campaign before edging past Sevilla to lift the UEFA Super Cup. Since then, they’ve done their job perfectly in the Premier League with four more wins over Newcastle, Sheffield United, Fulham and, most recently, West Ham.

When you think of historic clubs in European football, it’s hard not to think of FK Crvena Zvezda aka Red Star Belgrade. They are regulars at this level and as well as that, they happen to have one of the most intimidating home atmospheres on the planet. They aren’t favoured to reach the knockouts, but you can bet they’ll have a lot of fun in the months ahead.

After an appearance in the group stage of the Europa League last season, Red Star are taking a step up back to the big time. In terms of the Serbian SuperLiga, they’ve gotten off to a decent enough start - but being four points off the pace of top spot with two losses in their last three won’t sit well with the ultras.

City will want to ensure there’s no complacency on display when they tussle with Belgrade, sending a message to the rest of the big hitters that they are ready to defend their crown. We think this one will be emphatic with a few crazy moments here and there, leading to over 2.5 goals scored.