Europa League I
Red Star Belgrade
~~~~~~~~~~ Official TC Match Preview ~~~~~~~~~~


Sebastian Tounetki continues to impress & scored his first Celtic goal in the 4-0 win v Partick


Rajko Mitić Stadium, Belgrade
Wednesday, 24 September 2025
20.00 BST

Celtic face a difficullt first Europa League challenge this week, when they travel to the Balkans to take on Serbian champions, Red Star Belgrade on Wednesday evening.

With the Bhoys having ensured their progress and setting up a League Cup Semi-Final against city rivals, with a 4-0 win over Championship side, Partick Thistle at the weekend, attention now turns to Continental action.

And it will not be easy. The Hoops have undoubtedly been able to improve in recent years in being much tougher to beat away from Glasgow, but turning that into wins still has proved to be elusive. And that is before taking into account going to the home of a team who have proven to be extremely difficult to beat on their own patch.

Brendan Rodgers will be hoping that the form of Sebastian Tounetki and Benjamin Nygren can help to continue to inspire the Hoops, as was seen at the weekend, although there is a clear step up between a Championship side and a team who are one of the most dominant sides in their entire region of Europe.

Celtic will need to be at their best, and while the Hoops need their defensive mettle combined with tireless pressing and an improved cutting edge in attack and the manager's tactical clout will all be put to the test on Wednesday.​

Red Alert for Star Dangerman: Aleksandar Katai has 12 goals in 13 appearances this season

Who are Red Star Belgrade?

Founded during the final months of WWII, the team that would become Fudbalski Klub Crvena Zvedza (commonly known as Red Star or Red Star Belgrade) arethe most successful club from all of the Balkan nations, having won 36 League titles in their 78 year existence, including when Serbia was part of the former Yugoslavia, and this success also includes the honour of having won the European Cup in 1991.

The hosts cruised with relative ease through two rounds of Champions League qualifying against Lincoln (Gilbraltar) and Lech Poznan (Poland), before stumbling and being narrowly edged out by Pafos FC (Cyprus) with that result being the only loss this season, which relegated the Belgrade side to the Europa League.

Red Star are the current Serbian champions, and are in fact pursuing a 9th straight League title this season. In fact, they moved to the top of the table - with a game in hand as well - at the weekend on the back of a 1-0 'Eternal' derby win against Partizan Belgrade on Saturday.

A Little Jinky Magic in the Only Head to Head Match Up

Celtic have only once previously been drawn against Red Star, back in 1968.

In the first leg, with the match poised at 1-1 at half time, and sparked by a promise from manager Jock Stein to Jimmy Johnstone (that he would not be required to travel to Belgrade for the return leg should Celtic win by 4+ goals), sparked one of wee Jinky's most exhilarating and electrifying displays, including scoring twice in addition to setting up both Bobby Lennox and Willie Wallace for two more goals, while he continued to turn Star defenders inside out over and over, ultimately inspiring the Bhoys to a famous 5-1 win.

His teammates would go on to play out a 1-1 draw in the return leg in Belgrade to ensure Celtic's progression to the next round of the European Cup on that occasion.

With just the one off game this time around, it is an unrealistic ask for anyone to look to replicate him, but hopefully the Celts can draw a little bit of the Jinky magic which might be needed. Given the hosts have an extra day to prepare and having home advantage, this will pose a difficult test for the Hoops this week.​

1968: 'Jinky' Johnstone produced one of his greatest ever performances against Red Star Belgrade

Stats & Facts​

• Celtic have never won in any of the 3 previous visits to Serbia - although the most recent visit was more than 35 years ago, in 1989 (2-1 v Partizan Belgrade), while the two visits prior both occurred in the 1960's.

• The Hoops have not won away from home in any European competition since November 2021 (3-2 v Ferencvaros).

• Red Star Belgrade are strong starters, scoring 22 first half goals across all competitions, including European matches, whle conceding just twice.

• The hosts have an imposing home record, in which they have not lost a domestic match there since May 2019.

• In all, Red Star have lost just 9 times across all competitions at home since November 2019, and only one of those by more than a single goal margin (Red Star 2-5 Barcelona, 2024).

Team News

Brendan Rodgers will be without Alistair Johnston (hamstring), Anthony Ralston (foot), Austen Trusty (heel) and Jota (knee), while the manager also took the precaution of rotating players for the League Cup match against Partick Thistle at the weekend, no doubt with this match in mind.

As such it is likely that there will be some alterations to the starting XI, with the likes of Daizen Maeda and Kasper Schmeichel expected to return.

As for the hosts, Rade Krunic appears to be the only player ruled out through injury.

Referee: Radu Petrescu (ROU)

The 42y.o has officiated 244 matches in the Romanian top flight since 2007, and subsequently began to be appointed to UEFA competitions in 2016.

This will be the first time taking charge of any match involving Celtic.

Overall Record
P:- W:- D:- L:-

VAR: Michael Fabbri (ITA)

Weather

The expected forecast for Belgrade is for mostly cloudy but otherwise fine weather with only a small chance of rain, that will still be around the 19°C mark for when kick-off is scheduled on Wednesday evening.



~~~~ Head to Head ~~~~

P:2 W:1 D:1 L:0

v All Serbian Opposition
P:6 W:3 D:1 L:2

~~~~ 2025/26 Form ~~~~​

Overall
W W D D W ~ W W W D L​