Crvena zvezda vs Young Boys match facts

Crvena zvezda and Young Boys meet in Belgrade eager to get off the mark in UEFA Champions League Group G.

Both sides suffered 3-1 defeats on Matchday 1, YB going down at home to Leipzig before Crvena zvezda were beaten by the same scoreline at holders Manchester City despite taking the lead through Osman Bukari's 45th-minute opener.

Previous meetings 

Crvena zvezda wins 1
Draws 3
Young Boys wins 0
Crvena zvezda goals 8
Young Boys goals 5

The clubs were paired together in the 2019/20 Champions League play-offs, the first leg in Switzerland ending all square. A 76th-minute penalty from substitute Guillaume Hoarau earned YB a 2-2 draw after Miloš Degenek (18) and Mateo García (46) had helped Crvena zvezda recover from Roger Assalé's seventh-minute opener.

Crvena zvezda went through on away goals after a 1-1 draw in Belgrade, Aleksa Vukanović giving them a 59th-minute lead, although the Serbian side had to endure a tense finale after an El Fardou Ben Nabouhane equaliser eight minutes from time.

In addition to goalscorer Degenek, Mirko Ivanić, Milan Rodić, Marko Gobeljić and Zoran Popović all featured for Crvena zvzeda in that tie; Jean-Pierre Nsame, Saidy Janko, David von Ballmoos, Ulisses Garcia and captain Fabian Lustenberger appeared for YB.

That was the teams' second tie, having been paired together in the Champions League second qualifying round in 2004/05. Then, as four seasons ago, the first game in Switzerland finished 2-2, Crvena zvezda easing through thanks to a 3-0 home second-leg win.

Form guide

Crvena zvezda

Record vs Swiss clubs: W5 D6 L4 F27 A17
Home record vs Swiss clubs: W4 D2 L2

Crvena zvezda have won five of their 15 matches against Swiss clubs (D6 L4), with four of those victories coming at home. Having won the first three, however, they have lost two of the last four in Belgrade.

The Serbian side are making their third appearance in the Champions League group stage; they previously featured in 2018/19 and 2019/20.

Having come through qualifying in both those campaigns, this is the first time the Belgrade club have gained automatic entry to the group stage.

European Cup winners in 1991, Crvena zvezda have suffered three qualifying eliminations since the most recent of those group appearances, losing in the third qualifying round in both 2020/21 and 2021/22 before being knocked out by Maccabi Haifa in last season's play-offs (2-3 a, 2-2 h).

Miloš Milojević's side subsequently finished bottom of UEFA Europa League Group H despite home wins against both Ferencváros (4-1) and Trabzonspor (2-1), their only points in a section that also included Monaco.

Crvena zvezda won two of their three fixtures in last season's Europa League group stage, making it only two defeat in their last 17 home European matches (W11 D4).

The Red-Whites won one home game in each of their previous Champions League group appearances; their record otherwise is D1 L3.

The club won a 34th league title, and a sixth in succession, in 2022/23, finishing 22 points ahead of runners-up TSC Bačka Topola. They also won the Serbian Cup for the third year in a row, defeating Čukarički 2-1 in the final.

Milojević departed at the end of the season, Maccabi Haifa coach Barak Bakhar joining as his replacement on 1 June.

Young Boys

Record vs Serbian clubs: W0 D4 L2 F7 A11
Away record vs Serbian clubs: W0 D1 L2

Young Boys have never beaten Serbian opposition in six previous matches (D4 L2); apart from their four meetings with Crvena zvezda, they faced Partizan in the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League group stage (1-1 h, 1-2 a).

The Berne club are in the group stage for the third time, all in the last six seasons. They are now ahead of Grasshoppers on two appearances; only Basel among Swiss clubs, with eight, have featured more.

This is YB's tenth Champions League campaign; they have come through qualifying three times but have lost in the play-offs on four occasions, most recently in 2019/20 against Crvena zvezda.

A team coached by Gerardo Seoane finished bottom of their Champions League group in 2021/22 on five points, four of those coming against Manchester United including a famous 2-1 win on Matchday 1.

The Swiss club played only six European games last season, beating Latvia's Liepāja 4-0 on aggregate in the UEFA Europa Conference League second qualifying round and Finnish side KuPS 5-0 over two legs in the next stage only to lose 3-1 on penalties to Anderlecht in the play-offs after each side had won 1-0 away.

YB have never won an away game in six attempts in the Champions League group stage; indeed, a 1-1 draw at Manchester United on Matchday 6 in 2021/22 is the only time they have avoided defeat.

Young Boys claimed their 16th Swiss title in 2022/23, and a fifth in sixth seasons, finishing 16 points clear at the top of the table. Raphaël Wicky's side also added the Swiss Cup, the club's third domestic double and a second in four seasons.

The Swiss side therefore entered this season's Champions League in the play-offs, beating Maccabi Haifa 3-0 on aggregate, all the goals coming in the home second leg.

The 0-0 first-leg draw at Maccabi ended Young Boys' three-match winning away European run; they have lost only two of their last ten away (W4 D4).

Links and trivia

Nasser Djiga and Darian Males were Basel team-mates between 2021 and 2022, making 40 appearances together.

The respective captains Aleksandar Dragović and Fabian Lustenberger faced each other three times in the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen and Hertha Berlin respectively. Dragović's Leverkusen won all three matches, 3-1, 3-1 and 5-1.

Latest news

Crvena zvezda

Summer transfers
In: Omri Glazer (Hapoel Beer-Sheva), Edmund Addo (Spartak Subotica), Shedrack Charles (IMT), Jean-Philippe Krasso (Saint-Étienne), Peter Olayinka (Slavia Praha), Marko Stamenic (Copenhagen), Uroš Kabić (Vojvodina), Miloš Degenek (Columbus Crew), Andrej Djurić (Domžale), Nasser Djiga (Basel, loan), Cherif Ndiaye (Adana Demirspor), In-beom Hwang (Olympiacos)

Out: Aleksandar Pešić (Ferencváros), Radovan Pankov (Legia Warszawa), Milan Borjan (Slovan Bratislava), Sékou Sanogo (released), Nenad Krstičić (released), Strahinja Eraković (Zenit), Egor Prutsev (Celje, loan), Ilija Babić (Spartak Subotica), Irakli Azarov (Shakhtar), Slavoljub Srnić (AEL Limassol), Andrej Djurić (Spartak Trnava, loan), Marko Gobeljic (AE Kifisias), Stefan Leković (Villarreal, loan), Andrija Radulović (Vojvodina, loan)

Crvena zvezda have lost three of their last five games in all competitions although they were victorious on Saturday, beating Radnički Niš 1-0 at home thanks to an early Mirko Ivanić goal, the midfielder's first of the season. He scored eight league goals in 2022/23 having managed 16 in 2020/21 and 17 in 2021/22.

The Serbian side won their first four games this season but the weekend win was only their second in their last five matches, the other a 2-1 home victory against Novi Pazar on 2 September.

The Belgrade club went down 2-1 at Čukarički on 16 September. That was their second league defeat of the season, the other a 3-2 loss at Voždovac on 26 August that ended the Belgrade club's 65-match unbeaten run in the Serbian Super League (W56 D9). Their previous loss was a 2-1 reverse at Radnik Surdulica on 27 October 2021.

Crvena zvezda's two league defeats in eight games in 2023/24 is as many as in their previous 120 matches.

Crvena zvezda had scored at least twice in every match this season before only managing one goal at Čukarički, and again at City. They have hit 23 goals in total, conceding ten.

Jean-Philippe Krasso is the club's top scorer this season on six goals, two more than Osman Bukari.

Aleksandar Katai made his first appearance this season against Čukarički having recovered from a back injury but has not played since.

Young Boys

Summer transfers
In: Darian Males (Inter), Lukasz Lakomy (Zaglebie Lubin), Saidy Janko (Real Valladolid), Silvère Ganvoula (Bochum), Malik Deme (GC Zürich), Ebrima Colley (Atalanta, loan)

Out: Cédric Zesiger (Wolfsburg), Christian Fassnacht (Norwich), Quentin Maceiras (Puskás AFC), Mischa Eberhard (Stade-Lausanne), Yannick Toure (Aarau), Nico Maier (Wil), Alexandre Jankewitz (Winterthur, loan), Joel Bischel (Freiburg, loan), Théo Golliard (Vaduz, loan), Fabian Rieder (Rennes), Felix Mambimbi (St Gallen)

Young Boys' record this season in all competitions is W8 D3 L2. They were 1-0 winners at Grasshoppers on Saturday, their second victory in their last four games (L2).

Cédric Itten scored the only goal at the weekend, his first in the league since 5 August.

The Swiss side had won three games in a row in all competitions before losing at home to Leipzig on Matchday 1.

Young Boys had kept five successive clean sheets before defeat against Leipzig; the opening goal of that game ended a run of 505 minutes without conceding.

YB were unbeaten in 18 home matches in their own ground (W15 D3), since a 1-0 UEFA Europa Conference League play-off defeat against Anderlecht on 18 August 2022, before losing to Leipzig.

The Swiss champions got back to winning ways with a 4-1 home win against Lugano on 24 September, Jean-Pierre Nsamé scoring twice, Joël Monteiro getting his third league goal of 2023/24 – as many as in the previous three campaigns combined – and Fabian Lustenberger completing the scoring with just his second Young Boys goal and his first in the league since finding the net for Hertha Berlin on 12 September 2015.

The Berne club suffered their first Swiss Super League defeat of the season on 27 September, going down 2-1 at St Gallen.

Young Boys have beaten third division Breitenrain 5-0 and second division Neuchâtel Xamax 1-0 in this season's Swiss Cup to set up a last-16 tie at another third-tier side, Rapperswil-Jona.

Loris Benito has not played since Matchday 1 due to a muscular injury.

On 22 September Young Boys announced Kastriot Imeri was facing a spell on the sidelines due to a knee injury.

Filip Ugrinic returned to play 90 minutes on Matchday 1 having been sidelined since 2 September by an adductor injury. He has started every game since.