Champions league: The rivals
Red Star Belgrade
Red Star Belgrade are from Serbia and you might also see them called Crvena zvezda. That's because their full name is Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda, but that's not very easy to say! Crvena zvezda means 'Red Star' when translated into English and you've probably worked out that they're from the city of Belgrade.
Their history is very complicated. All Serbian football clubs were abolished during World War II but in 1945 a group of young men including footballers formed a 'Youth Physical Culture Society' which was to become Red Star Belgrade after they were given the stadium and colours of SK Jugoslavija – one of the former clubs that had been abolished. Other names that were considered included 'People's Star' and 'Blue Star', but Red Star was chosen and it became a symbol of Serbian nationalism.
The club's current crest, featuring a red star in the centre and two gold ones above the badge, has been in place since 2011 and is the fourth one Red Star Belgrade have had. The two gold stars were introduced to symbolise winning 20 Serbian league titles although their current total is now on 28, making Red Star the most successful club in Serbia, which was part of the former Republic of Yugoslavia until 1992. Told you it was complicated!
Red Star Belgrade play their home games at the Rajko Mitic Stadium which was opened in 1963 and used to be called the Red Star Stadium. It has a capacity of just over 55,000, is considered one of the most intimidating arenas in European football and is nicknamed 'Marakana' because the bowl-shaped design reminds people of Brazil's famous Maracana Stadium in Rio de Janeiro. Maybe Bobby Firmino will show off his Samba skills there.
We all know how intense Liverpool FC v Everton FC Merseyside derbies are but in 2009 the Belgrade derby between Red Star Belgrade and FK Partizan (also known as Partizan Belgrade) was voted by the Daily Mail as the fourth biggest rivalry of all time. Those matches are called the 'Eternal derby' and one game had an attendance of almost 108,000 fans!
As well as winning 28 league titles and 24 national cups, Red Star Belgrade are the only Serbian club to have been champions of Europe. They won the old European Cup in 1991, beating Olympique de Marseille on penalties after a 0-0 draw in Bari, Italy. Legends from that team include Darko Pancev and Robert Prosinecki, while England's Chris Waddle was playing for the French club.
They followed that success up by winning the FIFA Club World Cup, which was known as the Intercontinental Cup back in 1991. Red Star Belgrade beat Chile's Club Social y Deportivo Colo-Colo 3-0 in the final in Tokyo to lift one of the few trophies that Liverpool FC has never won. Yet!
Red Star Belgrade also went into this season's two UEFA Champions League games with the rare statistic of having a 100% win record against Liverpool FC. The two clubs met in the second round of the European Cup in the Autumn of 1973 when both were champions of their countries.
Bill Shankly's boys lost the first leg 2-1 in Belgrade. The home side were 2-0 up until right-back Chris Lawler got an away goal to set up a tense second leg at Anfield where Red Star Belgrade's Vojin Lazarevic opened the scoring after 60 minutes. Kevin Keegan had a goal chalked off after the referee ruled the ball hadn't crossed the line – there was no VAR or goalline technology in the 1970s! – and although Lawler equalised a 90th minute Slobodan Jankovic free-kick gave Red Star an historic Anfield win.
In January 2016 the first ever transfer between Liverpool FC and Red Star Belgrade took place when Jürgen Klopp signed Marko Grujic. The Serbian international, currently on loan in Germany with Hertha BSC, remained in Belgrade for the rest of the 2016/17 season and helped Red Star to win the Serbian SuperLiga, scoring six goals in 30 games.
Vladan Milojevic is currently Red Star Belgrade's head coach and their key players include Serbian striker Milan Pavkov and Comoros international forward Ben. They had to come through four qualifying rounds, beating FK Spartaks Jūrmala (Latvia), FK Suduva Marijampole (Lithuania), FC Spartak Trnava (Czech Republic) and FC Red Bull Salzburg (Austria) to reach the UEFA Champions League group stage for the first time ever. It promises to be quite a night when Liverpool FC visit Belgrade on 6th November!
