UEFA Champions League - Manchester City hopes to start defending the title with 3 points against Red Star Belgrade at home

The 2023/24 UEFA Champions League will kick off tomorrow. Premier League champion Manchester City will face Red Star Belgrade at the Etihad Stadium to officially begin their journey to defend their title.

After winning the Premier League and FA Cup last season, Manchester City defeated the "Nerazzurri" Inter Milan 1-0 in the Champions League final with Rodri scoring the only goal of the game and won the championship. throne, and even achieved the goal of the Triple Crown.

Manchester City is placed in Group G in this season's Champions League group stage. Its competitors in the same group include Bern Young Football Club and Bundesliga powerhouse Leipzig. Therefore, Manchester City is also regarded as a favorite team to advance in Group G.

In the earlier fifth round of the Premier League, Manchester City relied on goals contributed by Bernardo Silva, Doku and Haaland when they were one goal ahead and finally won 3-3 away from home. 1 defeated West Ham and successfully defended the Champions League with 5 consecutive victories.

In addition, Manchester City's opponent Red Star Belgrade won the Serbian Super League championship for the 34th time last season and was the first time in the past 30 years to enter the Champions League. Red Star Belgrade currently has 3 wins and 2 losses in the past 5 rounds of this league.

In terms of the lineups of both sides, Red Star Belgrade has Kataj recovering, and midfielder Krasso will play an important role. As for Manchester City, De Bruyne, Stones, Grealish and Kovacic are injured, so Haaland, Foden, Alvarez, Akanji and Gvadiol will be paired up front. .

In other focus matches, La Liga champion Barcelona will face Antwerp at home, and Newcastle will face Serie A giants AC Milan in the Group F group stage.