Monaco vs Crvena Zvezda facts

Monaco will look to make it successive home wins in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League as Crvena Zvezda come to the Stade Louis II seeking their first points this season.

The French side opened with a 2-1 victory at home to Barcelona and came from two down to earn a 2-2 draw at GNK Dinamo on Matchday 2, Denis Zakaria earning a point with a 90th-minute penalty. Serbian champions Crvena Zvezda, meanwhile, were beaten 1-2 at home by Benfica in their first fixture before going down 4-0 at Inter Milan.

Previous meetings

2022/23 UEFA Europa League group stage
Crvena Zvezda 0-1 Monaco
Monaco 4-1 Crvena Zvezda
Monaco picked up six points when the teams met in their only previous fixtures two seasons ago. Breel Embolo's 74th-minute penalty separated the sides in Belgrade on Matchday 1, while a Kevin Volland hat-trick (5, 27, 87) did the bulk of the damage at the Stade Louis II on Matchday 6. Monaco's other goal was a 50th-minute own goal from Milan Rodić, Guélor Kanga's penalty four minutes later the visitors' sole response.

Form guide

Monaco

Record vs Serbian clubs: W2 D0 L0 F5 A1
Home record vs Serbian clubs: W1 D0 L0

The tie against Crvena Zvezda two seasons ago is Monaco's only previous experience of Serbian opponents.

This is Monaco's tenth appearance in the Champions League proper – and a first since 2018/19.

Runners-up to Porto in 2003/04, Monaco have lost twice in Champions League qualifying since that last group stage appearance, going out to Shakhtar Donetsk in the 2021/22 play-offs (2-3 aggregate) and PSV Eindhoven in the third qualifying round a year later (3-4 agg).

That 2022/23 campaign was Monaco's most recent in European football before 2024/25. Having lost to PSV, they moved across to the Europa League group stage, finishing second in their section, before losing to Bayer Leverkusen in the knockout round play-offs (3-2 a, 2-3 h aet, 3-5 pens).

Les Monégasques lost two of their last four home European matches in that 2022/23 campaign – winning the other two – having suffered a single defeat in their previous seven (W3 D3).

Adi Hütter's side sealed a return to the Champions League proper by finishing second in Ligue 1 in 2023/24, nine points behind champions Paris Saint-Germain. It was Monaco's highest final league placing since 2017/18, when they were also runners-up to Paris.

Crvena Zvezda

Record vs French clubs: W1 D4 L11 F16 A37
Away record vs French clubs: W0 D2 L6

The 2022 defeats by Monaco made it five successive losses to French teams for Crvena Zvezda, who have lost their last four games in France, conceding 17 goals and scoring only four.

Crvena Zvezda won their second game against French clubs, beating Metz 2-1 at home in the 1998/99 UEFA Cup first round first leg, but have lost all but three of the subsequent 14 games, drawing the others.

The Serbian side's most famous meeting with Ligue 1 opponents was their first, a 5-3 victory on penalties against Marseille after a goalless draw at Bari's Stadio San Nicola in the 1991 European Cup final.

The Belgrade side have reached the Champions League proper for the fourth time – all since 2018/19.

Crvena Zvezda finished fourth in Group G in 2023/24, behind Manchester City, Leipzig and Young Boys. They lost five of their six games, the exception a 2-2 home draw against the Swiss side on Matchday 2.

The Serbian club started their 2024/25 European campaign in the play-offs, turning round a 2-1 first-leg loss at Norwegian champions Bodø/Glimt with a 2-0 home win to progress.

Crvena Zvezda have lost their last nine away European games. A 2-0 victory at Armenian side Pyunik in the 2022/23 Champions League third qualifying round is the only one of their last 11 away they have not lost.

Crvena Zvezda claimed their seventh successive league title – and 35th overall – in 2023/24, also winning the Serbian Cup for the fourth season in a row.

Links and trivia

Have played in France:
Luka Ilić (Troyes 2022, 2023/24)
Nasser Djiga (Nîmes 2022/23 loan)
Nemanja Radonjić (Marseille 2018–23)

International team-mates:
Cherif Ndiaye & Lamine Camara, Krépin Diatta, (Senegal)

Latest news

Monaco

Monaco have won six of their eight Ligue 1 matches this season (D2), scoring 14 goals and conceding only four. They drew 0-0 at home to LOSC Lille on Friday.

Monaco's Ligue 1 record in 2024 is W16 D6 L3. No side in the French top flight have won more league games in 2024.

Eliesse Ben Seghir scored twice in Morocco's 4-0 CAF Africa Cup of Nations qualifying win in the Central African Republic on 15 October.

Maghnes Akliouche was on target for France in a 3-0 win against Cyprus in 2025 UEFA European Under-21 Championship qualifying on 11 October.

Goalkeeper Radoslaw Majecki returned against Lille having not played since suffering an ankle injury on 1 August.

Folarin Balogun has been ruled out for two months after dislocating his left shoulder in a 2-1 victory at Rennes on 5 October.

Ghana's Mohammed Salisu limped off against Sudan on 15 October and missed Monaco's match on Friday.

Edan Diop has been out with a stress fracture in his foot.

Crvena Zvezda

Crvena Zvezda have won ten of their 11 league games this season, scoring 35 goals and conceding seven.

'Red Star' were 5-1 victors at home to Radnički Niš on Friday, Luka Ilić scoring a first-half hat-trick and substitute Aleksandar Katai getting two.

The Serbian champions have scored four or more goals in six of their 11 league matches.

Cherif Ndiaye's hat-trick in a 4-0 derby win at Partizan on 23 September made him Crvena Zvezda's top scorer in the league this season with seven goals, two more than Bruno Duarte and Ilić.

Seventeen-year-old Andrija Maksimović made his Serbia debut as a substitute in a 2-0 UEFA Nations League win at home to Switzerland on 12 October, and also came on in a 3-0 loss in Spain three days later.

Yegor Prutsev was replaced in the first half on Friday after suffering a knock.

Ognjen Mimović has not played since being replaced in the first half on Matchday 1 with a metatarsal injury.

Vladimir Lučić has been sidelined with a knee injury since 2 March.