Crvena zvezda lost by three goals to nil at Bayern Munich in a tough match in Germany. Goals from Coman, Lewandowski and Müller remained without response, but despite this Crvena zvezda showed plenty of positives in what was always going to be a challenging fixture.
Ground: Football Arena Munich
Attendance: 70,000
Referee: Bobby Madden (Scotland)
Goalscorers: Coman 34’, Lewandowski 80’, Müller 90+1
Bayern: Neuer, Kimmich, Hernandez, Sule, Pavard, Thiago, Tolisso, Perisic, Coutinho, Coman, Lewandowski.
Substitutes: Ulreich, Javi Martinez, Cuisance, Boateng, Davies, Gnabry, Müller.
Crvena zvezda: Borjan, Gobeljić, Degenek, Milunović, Jander, Cañas, Jovančić, García, Marin, Van La Parra, Pavkov.
Substitutes: Popović, Babić, Pankov, Petrović, Vulić, Vukanović, Boakye.
Crvena zvezda started this season’s Champions League oddissey with a trip to Munich’s impressive Football Arena. The stage was set for a memorable night as Zvezda faithful flocked from all over Europe to watch their team embark on another European adventure.
Vladan Milojević was forced to pick his team without the usual first-teamer Milan Rodić (injury) and Portuguese striker Tomané (suspension).
As it was expected, Bayern enjoyed most of the possession, with their star playmaker Philippe Coutinho particularly inspired for the match. Zvezda were limited to a handful of counter-attacks as our defence worked hard to keep Lewandowski and Co. out.
Full backs Marko Gobeljić and Jander deserved a of credit along with Miloš Degenek who produced some well-timed tackles to prevent the hosts from scoring.
But it was always going to be difficult to keep a clean sheet in this ground with the amount of attacking talent on show for the German side. And their quality showed on 34 minutes when Kingsley Coman timed his run perfectly to get away from Jander and meet Ivan Perišić’s cross with a diving header that left Milan Borjan with no chance to react.
Our best chance was a run and shot from Santana Jander that flew just wide of Manuel Neuer’s goal.
Marko Marin and Mateo García tried to keep the ball for as long as possible in order to give the defenders some more time to compose and prepare for next Bayern’s move that was inevitable. But Milan Borjan made a couple of saves from Polish star Robert Lewandowski to keep his side in the game when the half time whistle sounded.
Zvezda were brave in the second half and stayed in the game until 80 minutes, trying to score what would probably be a shocking equalizer. Marko Marin came very close to scoring such a goal after a clever one-two with Mateo, but his effort was just off target.
Shortly after Marin’s chance, the game was effectively over as Robert Lewandowski made the most out of Zvezda’s defensive mix-up and bundled the ball over the line to make it 2-0.
There was still time for substitute Thomas Müller to add the third in the injury time and give his side a slightly flattering scoreline.
It was a brave effort from the red and whites, who deserve a lot of credit for their work-rate on the night.