Preview: Manchester City vs. Red Star Belgrade

Sports Mole previews Tuesday's Champions League clash between Manchester City and Red Star Belgrade, including predictions, team news and possible lineups.

Champions League holders Manchester City begin the defence of their continental crown when they welcome Red Star Belgrade to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.

Pep Guardiola's troops defeated West Ham United 3-1 on Saturday to maintain their 100% league start to the season, while Red Star were beaten 2-1 by Cukaricki in the Serbian SuperLiga.

Match preview

A few months after finally attaining European supremacy against Inter Milan, City look to start their Champions League defence with a positive performance and result.

Guardiola's men have unsurprisingly started the 2023-24 season strongly, claiming maximum points from five Premier League matches, with the latest victory against West Ham at the London Stadium.

The game could have gone awry had the Cityzens not turned the game around after falling behind before half time, but goals from Jeremy Doku, Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland secured maximum points.

Haaland, last year's top scorer, did not have his scoring boots on for most of the game, evidenced by the failure to convert several promising chances before his 86th-minute strike.

Despite failing to score in last year's semis and final, the Norwegian's 12 goals saw him end atop the scoring log en route to continental glory, and Guardiola will hope the devastating centre-forward puts the Serbian side to the sword on Tuesday.

Unlike the Cityzens, the away side have wobbled recently, losing two of their last three domestic fixtures after initially impressing when the season started.

The Serbian champions picked up four consecutive victories at the start of their season, but two defeats in three games have shown vulnerability at the worst possible time.

The inability to keep clean sheets has been bothersome for Barak Bakhar's side, with six goals let in in the last three games.

By contrast, the Star kept three shut-outs in their opening four league fixtures, conceding one goal in a 4-1 thrashing of Mladost in August.

That makes Red Star rank underdogs for Tuesday's meeting in Manchester, where avoiding a resounding defeat will be a miracle.

Manchester City form (all competitions):

Red Star Belgrade form (all competitions):

Team News

Kevin De Bruyne is Guardiola's long-term absentee for Tuesday's game, and the Belgium international is still in the wars until the end of 2023.

Mateo Kovacic, Jack Grealish and John Stones are doubtful for the game, so the City boss could make minimal changes to the side that faced West Ham on Saturday, with Nathan Ake possibly coming in at centre-back or left-back.

The visitors have a clean bill of health heading into their game with the European champions, giving Bakhar the full complement of his squad.

The Red Star boss has started a back four and back three this season but is expected to utilise the latter against Guardiola's men.

Manchester City possible starting lineup:
Ederson; Walker, Akanji, Dias, Ake; Rodri, Silva; Foden, Alvarez, Doku; Haaland

Red Star Belgrade possible starting lineup:Glazer; Mijailovic, Dragovic, Rodic; Bukari, Krasso, Stamenic, Kangwa, Mitrovic; Lucic, Olayinka

We say: Manchester City 4-0 Red Star Belgrade

It is hard to see anything other than a straightforward victory for Guardiola's men at the Etihad as they seek to start their Champions League defence with maximum points.