Many think of the best teams in Europe coming together when they think of the Champion’s League. However, the likes of Villarreal, Bayer Leverkusen, and many others, have never won their domestic league whereas this match, in the second qualifying round, sees two champions meet. Valletta of Malta and Red Star Belgrade of Serbia.
Perhaps the player most people who are unaccustomed to Maltese football will know about the most is Valletta’s striker Michael Mifsud. The 35-year-old had a decent spell at Coventry City in the late 2000s but now plays back on home soil.
Red Star are known to have some of the most passionate fans around and the club are constantly in battle with their Belgrade rivals Partizan, both on and off the pitch. Miodrag Božović’s 2015/16 Serbian champions are part of Gazprom’s football project alongside Zenit St. Petersburg, Schalke 04 and, to a lesser extent, Chelsea.
However, Red Star do have European history of their own having won the European Cup in 1991, beating Marseille on penalties in Bari, Italy in what was undoubtedly their finest achievement to date.
As Maltese champions Valleta have done well but this should be a step too far for them and it’s hard to see them offering a great deal. I cannot see Valletta causing any problems for Red Star and think the Serbian side will win both halves. You can get this at 39/20 with Sportingbet.
To see two more tips for tonight’s UCL Qualifiers click here.