With progression into the knockout stages impossible for both sides, Young Boys and Red Star Belgrade will play for pride at Stadion Wankdorf in the Champions League on Wednesday night.
YB are still pointless in the league phase following last week's defeat at Celtic, whilst Crveno-beli were narrow losers at home to Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven.
Match preview
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Lifting the Swiss Super League title in six of the last seven campaigns, Young Boys are currently enduring a disastrous 2024-25 campaign, with Wednesday night's hosts on course for an embarrassing pair of results on both the domestic and European stage this time around.
Firstly, YB suffered their seventh straight defeat in the league phase of the Champions League last Wednesday night, when an 86th-minute own goal from centre-back Loris Benito secured maximum points for Celtic, who missed a penalty earlier in the contest via the strike of Arne Engels.
Unable to collect a point so far in the competition, Young Boys are unsurprisingly rooted to the very bottom of the League Phase rankings, a mammoth 10 points behind 24th-placed Stuttgart, meaning that a spot in the playoff round has been a pipe dream for some time in Bern.
There have also been serious struggles for YB on the domestic scene as the perennial Swiss champions are languishing down in ninth place, 10 points behind pacesetters Lugano, with the current holders on course for their worst top-tier finish since the creation of the Super League during the early 2000s.
A woeful first half of the campaign led to a much-needed change in the managerial hotseat, although new boss Giorgio Contini has failed to enjoy a blistering start to his reign at Stadion Wankdorf, with the 51-year-old winless across his first three matches in the dugout this month.
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With the club winners of the Champions League during the 1990-91 season, the current crop of Red Star Belgrade players have failed to live up to the talents of their predecessors, with the Serbian champions out of contention for a spot in the top 24 following defeat to PSV last week.
Crveno-beli were the masters of their own downfall during a chaotic first period in Belgrade as a Luuk de Jong brace and Ryan Flamingo's effort fired the Dutch side into a commanding lead, with the visitors able to hold on for victory despite going down to ten men in the 50th minute.
Finding the net in the second half during gameweek seven as Red Star threatened to produce a comeback, Cherif Ndiaye continued his impressive antics in front of net this term, with the towering Senegalese bagging 15 goals across all competitions, already matching his tally from the previous campaign.
Winning all 10 of their away matches in the Serbian Super Liga to date, Crveno-beli have struggled to translate domestic dominance onto the European stage, with the Champions League whipping boys losing all three of their road outings in the league phase so far, conceding 11 goals in the process.
A staggering 17 points clear at the summit of Serbian first division, head coach Vladan Milojevic has considerable credit in the bank ahead of Wednesday's dead rubber, with the 54-year-old losing just seven of his 50 matches in charge of Red Star, six of which have arrived in the league phase of this season's Champions League.
Team News
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Picking up his third yellow card of the league phase at Celtic last week, midfielder Filip Ugrinic will be suspended for Young Boys on Wednesday night.
As a result, YB need to find a new partner for Silvere Ganvoula in an attacking role, with striker Cedric Itten a candidate to enter the XI.
The hosts remain without the services of Facinet Conte, who has been ruled out for the remainder of the campaign due to a cruciate ligament injury.
Out of action because of an Achilles problem, Peter Olayinka has missed a large chunk of Red Star's Champions League campaign and will not feature on matchday eight.
After bagging a goal and an assist against PSV last time out, young defender Nasser Djiga should retain his spot at the heart of the backline alongside captain Uros Spajic.
Young Boys possible starting lineup:
Keller; Athekame, Camara, Benito, Hadjam; Males, Niasse, Lakomy, Monteiro; Ganvoula, Itten
Red Star Belgrade possible starting lineup:
Glazer; Mimovic, Djiga, Spacjic, Seol; Krunic, Elsnik, Duarte, Ivanic, Radonjic; Ndiaye
We say: Young Boys 0-1 Red Star Belgrade
Amid a woeful run of form in the Super League and on the European stage, we are expecting Young Boys to conclude their Champions League journey with a whimper on Wednesday night.
Red Star Belgrade remain dominant in Serbia and produced a decent display against PSV last week, so we can envisage Crveno-beli earning a morale-boosting victory at Stadion Wankdorf.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Carter White
