Red Star Belgrade lowdown as Rangers face up to Serbian champions' new scoring sensation

Rangers take on Red Star Belgrade in the first leg of Europa League last 16 on Thursday night.

The Gers were in terrific form when they knocked out German giants Borussia Dortmund in the play-off round and will have to be at their best again against the Serbian outfit.

Here is the lowdown on Red Star Belgrade ahead of the Ibrox encounter.

Form

Red Star Belgrade coach Dejan Stankovic was pleased to draw Rangers in the Europa League last 16. (Photo by Marco Luzzani/Getty Images)

Red Star clinched their fourth-successive Serbian SuperLiga title in 2020/21 - the second under boss Dejan Stankovic - and are currently second in the table, two points behind rivals Partizan Belgrade after 26 games. The Light Blues' opponents go into the game in Glasgow on the back of a 5-0 league win over bottom side Novi Pazar at the Rajko Mitic Stadium, also known as the Marakana. Red Star have lost only one league game this season but their last defeat was in a home Europa League group game against Midtjylland on November 4. Ultimately, Red Star topped Group F, which also included Braga and Ludogorets - the first time the Belgrade side had ever finished top of a European group.

Players

Norwegian striker Ohi Omoijuanfo, 28, was recruited from Molde in the January transfer window and he is in red-hot form having already scored four goals in five games. Aleksandar Katai, who scored a hat-trick against Novi Pazar at the weekend, was on target for Serbia against Scotland in the never-to-be-forgotten Euro 2020 play-off penalty shoot-out in Belgrade. Aleksandar Dragovic may be a familiar name to Rangers fans. The Austria international defender was in the Bayer Leverkusen side which knocked Rangers out of the Europa League two seasons ago. Another to watch is former Montenegro midfielder Mirko Ivanic, 28, who won three-successive Belarusian titles with BATE Borisov before signing for Red Star, where he won another three in a row.

Manager

Norwegian forward Ohi Anthony Omoijuanfo (left) has been in red-hot scoring form for Red Star Belgrade since joining from Molde in January. (Photo by JAKUB SUKUP/AFP via Getty Images)

Serbian Dejan Stankovic is well known as the former Red Star, Lazio and Inter Milan midfielder, who won 103 international caps. Famously, he played at three World Cup finals for three different countries - Yugoslavia (1998), Serbia and Montenegro (2006), and Serbia (2010). The 43-year-old was assistant to Andrea Stramaccioni at Italian club Udinese in 2014/15 before he took over at Red Star in December 2019. Stankovic is confident of success against the Scottish champions. He was quoted in several newspapers as saying: "We could have drawn harder teams than Rangers. I am an optimist and I believe we can defeat them and go a long way in the Europa League."

European pedigree

Red Star won the European Cup in 1991. The final was played at the Stadio San Nicola in Bari where the match against Marseille ended goalless after 120 minutes with Red Star winning 5-3 in the penalty shoot-out. The Serbian outfit lost to Borussia Monchengladbach in the two-legged UEFA Cup final in 1979. After a 1-1 draw in Belgrade - refereed by Ian Foote of Scotland - the German side won 1-0 at home for a 2-1 aggregate. Red Star lost the European Super Cup final to Manchester United the same season with a 1-0 defeat at Old Trafford.

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