“We’re fucked.” That was the apparent scouting summary that returned to Ibrox when Rangers boss Graeme Souness sent his assistant – Walter Smith – to watch Red Star Belgrade ahead of their 1990-1991 European Cup second round tie.

The Balkans has produced some wonderfully-gifted footballers from the rugged and volatile Gheorge Hagi to the more elegant and darting-around, artistic creativity in the form of Luka Modric.

Yet only once has a team from the region won the European Cup – that team was Red Star Belgrade (otherwise known as ‘Crvena Zvezda’ if you’re cultured).In a football game that is becoming increasingly globalised it’s difficult to imagine that another Balkan team will better their continental achievements. As an avid football fan I have heard of the Red Star Belgrade team – even saw some of their players play in their pomp. In fact, I even grew up on the streets of Belgrade (sorry, couldn’t resist a Robbie Keane joke). But I never had the chance to see them live.

Red Star Belgrade are widely regarded as a forgotten team by many football scholars (as contradicting as that sounds). So I decided to remember them. I conducted an intense scouting mission for classic footage of Red Star Belgrade in action and I managed to watch three matches – both legs of the 1991 European Cup semi-final against Bayern Munich and the final against Marseilles.

Starting XI

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