AC Milan vs Red Star Belgrade

Stadio San Siro sets the stage for AC Milan’s must-win UEFA Champions League home clash against familiar foes Red Star Belgrade.

After back-to-back defeats to Liverpool and Bayer Leverkusen to start their European adventure under Paulo Fonseca, Milan have gone into overdrive, winning their last three Champions League games against Club Brugge, Slovan Bratislava, and Real Madrid. ‘I Rossoneri’ notably netted precisely three goals in each victory, though it’s worth noting none of those triumphs yielded a clean sheet. Defensive frailties have plagued the 19-time Italian champions’ attempt to establish consistency under Fonseca, with a 2-1 Serie A defeat at Atalanta last weekend exposing Milan’s vulnerabilities at the back. However, the hosts are well-positioned to claim three precious points and consolidate their hopes of securing automatic knockout qualification, having avoided defeat in all six previous H2H meetings with Red Star (W2, D4).

Meanwhile, Red Star will be out to prevent Milan from posting a fourth consecutive Champions League win for the first time since 2005. Buoyed by a stunning 5-1 home victory against Stuttgart last time out, the visitors head into proceedings with renewed optimism after halting a woeful 14-game winless streak in Europe’s elite club competition (D1, L13). However, Dejan Milojevic’s men remain stranded in the bottom quarter of the standings after losing their opening four matches, including a 5-1 thumping at the hands of Monaco on their last continental travel. On the bright side, they’ve gathered momentum after trouncing Stuttgart, winning three consecutive league matches since. That should set them up nicely for this trip as they head to Italy, where they’ve only won once of their 14 previous matches against Serie A clubs (D4, L9)!