Serbian champions Red Star drew 1-1 against Switzerland’s Young Boys on Tuesday night in the second leg of the Champions League playoffs and thus, after a 2-2 draw in the first match, thanks to the away goals rule qualified for the most elite European competition.
Roared on by a fervent 50,000 home crowd, Red Star, who earned a 2-2 draw in the reverse fixture, were on the back foot for an hour and rode their luck at times before Aleksa Vukanovic put them ahead.
Milan Rodic missed Red Star’s best chance in the first half when he headed over the bar before Michel Aebischer twice went close to swinging the tie Young Boys’ way.
The Red Star keeper, Milan Borjan, almost spilled a deflected cross into his own net and then saved from Roger Assalé before the home side broke the deadlock with their first purposeful move.
Marko Marin released Rodic with a delightful pass and the left-back raced down the flank to deliver a sharp cross for Vukanovic to head home from six yards at the near post.
This success is great in itself due to the fact that the club’s finances cannot be compared to those of other Champions League participants, big clubs like Real Madrid, PSG, Manchester City, Barcelona, Juventus, Bayern, and others.
But the success is even greater when one considers that Red Star started its march towards the Champions League group stage from the first round of qualifying, remaining undefeated at home during that period, and finally entering the group stage.
And not for the first time, either.
Three seasons ago, the red-and-whites started from the first round of qualifying and also managed to reach the group stage of the Europa League and qualify for the last 32.
Then, last season, Red Star became the only club to make it to the top competition, the Champions League, while starting in the first round of qualifying. At that time, coach Vladan Milojevic’s footbalers lost only two of the 17 matches on the European stage.
When it comes to this season, Red Star managed to break their own record, again start from round 1 of qualifying and join Europe’s top clubs, twice in a row – this time eliminating Suduva, Helsinki, Copenhagen and Young Boys along the way.
Source: telegraf.rs
