PSV will play Red Star Belgrade on Tuesday night in a crucial match for a spot in the next round of the UEFA Champions League. The two teams previously met in qualifying for UCL in the 2004-2005 season.
In the away match, PSV narrowly lost 3-2, with Ji-Sung Park and John de Jong being the goal scorers. At home, the team revenged convincingly with an impressive 5-0 victory. The goals then were scored by Mark van Bommel (2x), DaMarcus Beasley, John de Jong and Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink.
League phase
In the league phase of the UEFA Champions League, PSV is currently in 23rd place with eight points. That is five points more than Red Star Belgrade, which is in 31st place with three points. Red Star picked up its first points in round five thanks to a convincing 5-1 victory over VfB Stuttgart. Before that, the team lost to SL Benfica, Inter Milan, AS Monaco, FC Barcelona and in the last round of play to AC Milan.
Superliga
In the Serbian league, Red Star is unapproachable this season. After twenty matches, the team stands on 58 points. Only a draw against Mladost kept the team from a perfect score. As in the past seven seasons, Red Star again seems to be on its way to the national title.
While PSV has already played three official matches in 2025, Tuesday night's game is the first official match of the year for Red Star. The Serbs did play four practice matches already and won all of them.
Dutchmen
Several Dutchmen have played at Red Star Belgrade in the past. Rajiv van La Parra came over from Huddersfield Town in 2019. He played 11 games for Rode Ster and scored once, in the National Cup. Lorenzo Ebecilio played 30 games between 2018 and 2019 and scored three times, including two in the Superliga. He also played four games in the Champions League, against teams such as Napoli, Paris Saint-Germain and Liverpool.
Jagoš Vuković is the only player who has played for both PSV and Red Star Belgrade. He came out once for Red Star and played nine games for PSV.
