Celtic set for daunting trip to storied Red Star in Europa opener

Red Star Belgrade vs. Celtic in the Europa League

Date: Wednesday, September 24th, 2019 12:00 BST

The date was 29 May 1991. The stage was located in Bari’s picturesque southern Adriatic coast, Stadio San Nicola. The stars were provided by a famous Yugoslav club. The Red Stars .

In an attritional final against Bernard Tapie’s financially successful Marseille, Red Star Belgrade defied the odds and won the European Cup.

Both teams had won over with their way to the showpiece, but the outcome was goalless and did not live up to expectations. The 1991 European Cup’s destination was decided by the penalities.

Years later, defender Sinisa Mihajlovic remarked, “I think it was the most boring final in European Cup history.”

It was irrelevant.

Because any league matches that were drewn in Yugoslavia that year were settled by a shootout, they had a full season of practice and were able to score all five of their spot kicks.

After returning from a scouting mission to watch Rangers, Walter Smith, their assistant manager, gave Ibrox manager Graeme Souness a sharp two-word warning.

The first word, “we’re,” was too salty for printing here, but the second was. Red Star cruised past a strong Rangers side with prescience from Smith.

They appeared to be able to control everything. Robert Prosinecki, the mercurial. The tenacious Mihajlovic Darko Pancev, a prolific author. The Dragisa Binic of lightning speed

Any of the late 1980s and early 1990s contenders for European football, including AC Milan, Bayern Munich, Sampdoria, and Barcelona, were in their sights. How many European Cups would be won, it appeared, was all there was.

This team of almost entirely homegrown talent was eventually dissolved by war.

As Stojanovic reflected on the bleak times that had replaced the glory days, Stojanovic famously said, “We will never know how good we could have been.”

Yugoslavia was torn apart as a result of the civil war. Due to the country’s disqualification from the Swedish competition, Red Star’s numerous international competitors were denied the chance to compete at the European Championship at the end of the following year. infamously, Denmark outperformed them.

Miodrag Belodedici, a member of the Steaua Bucharest team that won the European Cup in 1986, claims that if the team had not been forced to split up, they would have “gone on winning for years.” He became the first man to do so after becoming the first player to do so.

In fact, Red Star only made two Uefa Cup group stage appearances since 1995, when sanctions forbid Serbian clubs from competing in European competition.

With four Champions League appearances in the past seven years, the Serbian champions have recently begun to find their feet once more.

However, as with Europa League match-day one rival Celtic, they were stunned by unfancied opponents in the play-offs for Uefa’s top competition, as Cypriots Pafos put an end to Red Star’s hopes of a third straight campaign at the top.

When they step foot inside the imposing Rajko Mitic Stadium, Brendan Rodgers will take charge of his Celtic side in one of Europe’s most intimidating arenas.

The hosts’ failure to qualify for the Champions League was largely due to the sale of a lot of the family silver in the summer, which included the sales of Andrija Maksimovic, an 18-year-old duo, to RB Leipzig and Velijko Milosavlejvic, who were both sold to Bournemouth.

However, Celtic still has a lot to worry about.

Aleksandar Katai, a veteran, has already scored 12 goals in 13 games from midfield, including 19 against them last year, helping them win an eighth consecutive Serbian title.

In an effort to win the “Eternal Derby,” Katai formed part of an attacking quartet on Saturday night when they defeated neighbours and vengeful rivals Partizan and Montenegrin star Mirko Ivanic, who has scored seven goals so far this season, and former West Ham United and Stoke City striker Marko Arnautovic.

The former Bologna head coach and Red Star great Mihajlovic promised to sign for the club before the end of his career when he arrived at the club amid a sea of emotion.

Austrian Arnautovic was teary-eyed when Mihajlovic revealed the story as it came true, and Mihajlovic passed away in 2022 from leukemia.

As Celtic prepare to kick off their Europa League campaign in a positive way by taking on a team that has, incredibly, lost just five league games in the previous five seasons, this will be a significant test for their subpar away European form.