Champions League • League Phase • AC Milan vs. FK Crvena zvezda: When Krunić Comes to Town

After the loss on Friday to Atalanta, and with the intensely over-marketed 125th Anniversary celebration happening this Sunday, there is a bizarre mix of failure and corporate hype happening at the club right now. That would make people uneasy going into any match, but especially a Champions League match where there is the weight of history and the mirror of reality mixed in with a little bit of random hope someone found in the corner of the dressing room. That will be the mood when Red Star and Krunić comes to town.

Past, present, and future successes and failures all in one picture

Rade Krunić's footballing journey has found him at Serbian league title holders FK Crvena zvezda, also known as Red Star. He only left in January, but is already at his second club. That club has already been destroyed by Benfica, Inter, Monaco, and Barcelona before their only Champions League win, a 5-1 beatdown of Stuttgart. With only one win, they sit in 31st in the current League Phase table, so will be looking for every goal and every point they can get vs. Milan on Wednesday night.

Krunić celebrates scoring in Red Star's last Champions League match

In Serbia, they are once again leading the league by 12 points after 17 matches. Their most recent match was a 6-0 thrashing of Tekstilac Odžaci on Saturday. For that match, their manager, Milojević, lined up a 4-2-3-1 with: Guteša; Prutsev, Leković, Drkušić, Rodić; Kanga, Dálcio; Luka Ilić (who scored 4 of their 6 goals,) Duarte, Katai; and Ndiaye. He is apparently missing both his goalkeeper Glazer and forward Olayinka, but should have everyone else in his UEFA squad available.

Speaking of players missing from their UEFA Champions League squad, Fonseca is also missing a few. Bennacer is getting closer to a return, but is still out, and Florenzi is still missing, but now a big miss is Pulisic, who has a calf lesion and will miss a few matches. Okafor is also apparently out for this one with a back issue. Controversially, Fonseca mentioned that he was planning to replace Pulisic with Loftus-Cheek. As I mentioned in my review of the loss to Atalanta, that is no replacement. There is no real place for Loftus-Cheek in Fonseca's system, but he keeps shoving him in there anyway, hoping he'll fit.

The odd man out is a good player, there is just no room for him in Fonseca's system.

This matchup is always intense. Our last two encounters were both tense encounters in the Europa League, where both matches ended in draws. The away match in Belgrade was particularly disappointed, as banned Red Star fans were not only in the stadium, but they racially abused Ibrahimović. Hopefully, there will be no problems of any kind with fans this time around, because Milan has enough problems of its own already. Like facing an ex who was often considered unremarkable, but also scored some incredible goals and had some really amazing performances for us. Let's just hope that is not the case this time when Crvena zvezda and Krunić comes to town.

This post inspired by the music of The Smith's "Back to the Old House"

Our next matches are:

UEFA Youth League • League Phase • Matchday 6

AC Milan Primavera vs. FK Crvena zvezda U19

Wednesday, December 11, 2024 • 14:30 (8:30am EST)

This match is not being televised in the U.S.

Champions League • League Phase • Matchday 6

AC Milan vs. FK Crvena zvezda

Wednesday, December 11, 2024 • 21:00 CET (3pm EST)

In the U.S., this match can be streamed on Paramount+,

or use a VPN to access better coverage

Serie C Week 19

Vis Pesaro vs. Milan Futuro

Sunday, December 15, 2024 • 15:00 CET (9:00am EST)

This match is not being televised in the U.S.