Crvena zvezda vs Benfica Prediction & Betting Tips (19 September)

Winner of the Champions League in 1991, Red Star has not been at its best for many years. The Bosman ruling, which has allowed players to play without restriction abroad since 1995, has done a lot of harm to this institution which can no longer keep its best players. Present in the group stage of the Champions League last year, the Serbs fared poorly by finishing, with 1 point taken in 6 games, in last place, ahead of Manchester City, Leipzig and Young Boys. On the national scene, however, they won their 7th title in a row. This season, the Belgrade-based team is already at the top of the championship with a record of 6 wins and 1 draw before hosting Napredak this coming weekend. Note that Red Star punched its ticket to the Champions League by knocking out the Norwegians from Bodo/Glimt in the preliminary round 3-2 at the end of the two-way matches. Winner of this Champions League twice in its history 1961 and 1962, Benfica on the other hand has not reached the final since 1990.

Last year, the Lisbonites finished 3rd in their C1 group, behind Real Sociedad and Inter but ahead of Salzburg. Returned to the Europa League, they dominated Toulouse then the Rangers before falling to OM in the quarter-final. Champion of Portugal in 2023, Benfica, on the other hand, had to settle for 2nd place in the ranking during the previous year, 10 points behind Sporting. Eager to perform better this season, Roger Schmidt's men have already let precious points slip away. Beaten at Famalicao to start 2-0, they then took advantage of the support of their supporters to dominate Casa Pia 3-0 and Estrela 1-0 before conceding the points share to Moreirense just before the international break 1-1.

For Red Star, we must mention the withdrawals of goalkeeper No. 1 Glazer, potentially starting midfielder Lucic and replacement Degenek. Having passed through Toulouse at the start of his career, the experienced defender Spajic plays a major role in this formation. On the attacking front, rookie Bruno Duarte (4 goals and 2 assists in the league) takes his place, but his replacement Ndiaye (4 goals in the league) is also effective. Arriving at the club this summer, Slovenian international midfielder Elsnik (2 goals in the league) made a good debut. During the offseason, several important elements left Belgrade. This is the case of defender Dragovic (Austria Vienna), midfielders Hwang (Feyenoord), Stamenic (Nottingham Forest) and Mijailovic (Al-Wasl) and attackers Bukari (Austin) and Krasso (Paris FC). In the opposite direction, arrived in particular the defender Djiga (Basel), the midfielders Elsnik (Olimpija), Krunic (Fenerbahce) and Ilic (Troyes) as well as the attackers Milson (Maccabi Tel Aviv), Rodriguez (Famalicao), Duarte (Farense ); Silas (Stuttgart) and Radonjic (Torino). On the Benfica side, the solid defender Beste, the midfielder Aursnes, the interesting attacker Tiago Gouveia and the promising attacking midfielder Schjelderup are missing, all on the flank.

In the cages, takes place the Ukrainian international Trubin who took Lunin's place during Euro 2024. He is protected by a central hinge composed of the experienced Otamendi and the very promising Antonio Silva. In midfield, we find the Turkish international Kökçu who could be positioned in support of the Greek Pavlidis (1 goal and 1 assist in the league. The Argentine legend Di Maria (9 goals and 10 assists in the league last year) is also applying This summer, Benfica was forced to let Joao Neves (PSG), Marcos Leonardo (Al-Hilal), Morato (Nottingham Forest) and David Neres (Naples) leave. ) and Tengstedt (Hellas Verona) and the experienced midfielder Joao Mario (Besiktas). On the other hand, the managers have finalized the recruitments of defenders Beste (Heidenheim), Carreras (Man United) and Kaboré (Man City), midfielders Barreiro. (Mainz) and Renato Sanches (PSG) and attackers Pavlidis (AZ Alkmaar), Aktürkoglu (Galatasaray), Rollheiser (Estudiantes) and Amdouni (Burnley).