Crvena zvezda v Paris facts

Paris Saint-Germain travel to Crvena zvezda knowing another victory against a side they overwhelmed on matchday two will take them into the knockout rounds – although the eliminated Serbian champions still have something to play for as they conclude their first UEFA Champions League group campaign.

• Paris have eight points in Group C, three coming from a 6-1 defeat of Crvena zvezda – the Belgrade club's joint heaviest defeat in UEFA competition and Paris's first game against Serbian opponents. Neymar scored a hat-trick with Edinson Cavani, Ángel Di María and Kylian Mbappé also on target; the visitors' sole response came from Marko Marin, Crvena zvezda's first group stage goal.

• Paris are second in the standings, a point behind Napoli and two ahead of Liverpool with Crvena zvezda on four. The French club will therefore be through if they win, or if Liverpool do not gain victory at home to Napoli.

• Crvena zvezda can no longer claim a place in the top two but will finish third if they win and Liverpool lose. Should they finish level on points with the English club, Liverpool have a superior head-to-head goal difference.

Form guide
Crvena zvezda 
• All four of Crvena zvezda's points in the section have come from home games; a goalless draw at home to Napoli on their group stage debut and a 2-0 win against last season's runners-up Liverpool on matchday four, the first victory by a Serbian club in the UEFA Champions League proper. The 1991 European champions have lost all three away games, conceding a total of 13 goals.

• The Belgrade club are eight European home matches unbeaten (W4 D4) since a 1-0 reverse against Arsenal in last season's UEFA Europa League group stage. That is their only defeat in their last 15 European home matches (W8 D6). They have conceded just five goals in those 15 fixtures – and never more than one in any game.

• Before matchday two, Crvena zvezda had lost only once in 14 European games; despite losing at Paris, Liverpool and Napoli last time out (1-3), they have still only suffered four defeats in their last 18 (W6 D8).

• Champions of Serbia in 2017/18, when they reached the UEFA Europa League round of 32, Crvena zvezda came through four qualifying rounds to reach the group stage – the first time they had successfully negotiated the UEFA Champions League preliminaries at the seventh attempt.

• Crvena zvezda kicked off this season in the first qualifying round, where they got the better of Latvia's Spartaks Jūrmala 2-0 on aggregate. Lithuania's Sūduva were beaten 5-0 over two legs in the second qualifying round, before extra time secured a 2-1 away win at Slovakia's Spartak Trnava in the third qualifying round second leg to complete a 3-2 aggregate victory. They came from 2-0 down to draw at Salzburg in the play-off second leg, going through on away goals after a 2-2 aggregate draw.

• The Serbian champions have won only one of their 13 fixtures against Ligue 1 opposition (D4 L8) – a 2-1 defeat of Metz in their first home game, in the 1998/99 UEFA Cup first round. The most recent contest in Belgrade was a goalless draw against Bordeaux in the 2012/13 UEFA Europa League play-offs. They lost the return 3-2 in France.

• Crvena zvezda's first encounter with a French club was the European Cup final of 1991, in which they defeated Marseille on penalties after a goalless draw in Bari.

• This is only the third season Serbia has had a team in the group stage, after Partizan's participations in 2003/04 and 2010/11.

Paris
• Thomas Tuchel's side bounced back from losing their opening game 3-2 at Liverpool with that emphatic defeat of Crvena zvezda. They then shared two draws with Napoli (2-2 home, 1-1 away), before a 2-1 home win against Liverpool last time out.

• The win against Liverpool was Paris's second victory in their last eight UEFA Champions League matches (D2 L4).

• The draw at Napoli ended the Parisian club's three-match losing run in European away games – they have conceded ten goals in those four matches. They have won two of their last eight away UEFA Champions League fixtures (D2 L4).

• Before beating Crvena zvezda on matchday two, Paris had lost four European matches in a row – the worst run in their history – during which they conceded 11 goals.

• Ligue 1 champions for the fifth time in six years in 2017/18, and seventh time overall, this is the French side's seventh successive UEFA Champions League campaign.

• Semi-finalists in 1995, Paris have been knocked out in the round of 16 in the last two seasons – having been eliminated in the quarter-finals in the four previous campaigns.

• Paris have scored in all of their last 21 UEFA Champions League games, since a 1-0 defeat at Manchester City in the 2015/16 quarter-final second leg (0-1).

• The Ligue 1 side scored 25 goals in the 2017/18 group stage, a UEFA Champions League record.

Links and trivia
• Jonathan Cafú is on loan at Crvena zvezda from Bordeaux, who he joined in August 2017. He scored two goals in 19 Ligue 1 appearances last season.

• Has also played in France:
El Fardou Ben Nabouhane (Le Havre 2007–10, Vannes 2010–13)

• Thiago Silva scored in Brazil's 2-0 defeat of Serbia in this summer's FIFA World Cup group stage, Neymar also playing 90 minutes.

Latest news

Crvena zvezda
• The defeat in Paris on matchday two ended Crvena zvezda's 34-match unbeaten run in all competitions (W26 D8), stretching back to the 1-0 loss at CSKA Moskva in last season's UEFA Europa League round of 32 second leg, although they did lose on penalties in the Serbian Cup against Mačva on 14 March after a 0-0 draw.

• Crvena zvezda are 46 matches unbeaten in the Serbian Super League (W41 D5), since a 1-0 loss against Napredak on 1 October 2017. They beat the same opponents 3-0 at home on Saturday.

• The Belgrade club have not lost in 32 home matches (W27 D5) in all competitions, since a 1-0 defeat against Arsenal in last season's UEFA Europa League group stage.

• The Serbian champions won their first seven games in this season's Super League, making it 17 in a row, before being held 1-1 at Belgrade rivals Partizan on 23 September. They won their next eight matches before a 2-2 draw at second-placed Radnicki Niš on 24 November; they have won the last three, beating Voždovac on 2 December and Spartak Subotica 3-1 away three days later before the weekend win.

• El Fardou Ben Nabouhane has scored in his last six appearances for club and country, seven goals in total including one on Saturday; the Comoros forward scored nine goals in his first 11 matches for Crvena zvezda this season but managed only one in the next eight before scoring in the last five.

• Richmond Boakye has five goals in seven league appearances this season. He was out injured between 24 October and 2 December.

• Crvena zvezda reached the Serbian Cup quarter-finals with a 4-1 home win against second division side Bačka Topola on 21 November. They will play Radnik Surdulica in the last eight in March.

• Vujadin Savić has been sidelined by injury since matchday four, as had Filip Stojković before playing 90 minutes on Saturday; Slavoljub Srnić has not played since matchday five.

• Goran Čaušić was out with a minor injury between 6 November and 2 December.

Paris
• Paris's home game against Montpellier, scheduled for 8 December, was postponed for security reasons.

• A 1-0 win at home to Toulouse on 24 November made it 14 Ligue 1 victories in a row to kick off the new season, surpassing the club's best winning run in the league set by Laurent Blanc's side between 20 March and 30 August 2015. That was also the best start ever to a season in Europe's top five leagues.

• However, Paris failed to win in Ligue 1 for the first time this season on 2 December, drawing 2-2 at Bordeaux with Neymar and Kylian Mbappé on target. Three days later they were held 1-1 at Strasbourg, Edinson Cavani salvaging a point.

• Neymar has 11 goals in 12 league games this season; Mbappé has 12 in 11 matches and Cavani has ten in ten.

• Neymar, whose goal against Bordeaux was his 30th in Ligue 1 on only his 32nd appearance, was forced off early in the second half by an adductor injury and sat out the Strasbourg trip.

• The 2-0 win at Marseille on 28 October was the first time this season Paris had failed to score three or more goals in a league game. Thomas Tuchel's side have managed 49 in their first 16 league fixtures.

• On 7 October Mbappé became the youngest player to score four goals in a Ligue 1 game as Paris defeated Lyon 5-0, hitting four in a 14-minute burst – another record.

• Layvin Kurzawa (back) is yet to play this season, although he was an unused substitute against Toulouse and Strasbourg.

• Mbappé finished fourth in the voting for the Ballon d'Or but did win the first Raymond Kopa Trophy, for the world's best Under-21 player in 2018, on 3 December.