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Half-time substitute Iheanacho slots high into the net to give Celtic lead
Arnautovic turns in from close range in a packed box 10 minutes later
Schmeichel & Maeda return for Brendan Rodgers' side with latter subbed off at break
Schmeichel pulls off fine first-half save to keep tie level
Nygren & Iheanacho blow two chances in quick succession as Celtic start second half brightly
Red Star Belgrade v Celtic (20:00)
Celtic warmed up with a 4-0 League Cup win over Partick Thistle on Sunday and Brendan Rodgers does not tinker too much.
As expected, Kasper Schmeichel and Daizen Maeda return to the line-up, while Yang Hyun-jun keeps his place on the right wing.
It's a big night for Colby Donovan as the 19-year-old right-back starts his third successive game.
Anthony Ralston is fit enough for a place on the bench.
Red Star Belgrade v Celtic (20:00)
Image source, SNSCeltic's Viljami Sinisalo, Luke McCowan, Liam Scales and Anthony Ralston in the famous Rajko Mitic Stadium tunnel
Image source, SNSCeltic's Benjamin Nygren arrives
Image source, SNSCeltic Brendan Rodgers
Red Star Belgrade v Celtic (20:00)
Red Star Belgrade: Matheus, Seol, Uchanna, Veljkovic, Tiknizyan, Handel, Elsnik, Radonjic, Duarte, Ivanic, Arnautovic.
Substitutes: Glazer, Gutesa, Bajo, Milson, Katai, Kostov, Olayinka, Stankovic, Lekovic, Lucic, Zaric, Avdic.
Celtic: Schmeichel, Donovan, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Tierney, McGregor, Hatate, Nygren, Yang, Maeda, Tounekti.
Substitutes: Sinisalo, Doohan, Engels, Bernardo, McCowan, Iheanacho, Balikwisha, Saracchi, Forrest, Murray, Kenny, Ralston.
Red Star Belgrade v Celtic (20:00)
Two traditional heavyweights go toe-to-toe as Celtic begin their Europa League campaign away to Red Star Belgrade.
Both clubs are downhearted to miss out on the Champions League but this should be enough to whet the appetite for what lies ahead.
Celtic have not been in this competition since 2021-22, when they dipped a toe into all three Uefa tournaments.
Image source, SNS
Kelechi Iheanacho was on the pitch for just 10 minutes before finding the opener
At a glance
Half-time substitute Kelechi Iheanacho calmly slots the ball high into the net to give Celtic the lead
Veteran striker Marko Arnautovic hauls Red Star level in a packed box
Both kick off Europa League campaign with a point with Celtic's next game at home to Braga of Portugal
Celtic battled their way to a deserved point in their Europa League campaign opener with an evenly matched Red Star Belgrade at the Marakana.
Former Premier League strikers Kelechi Iheanacho and Marko Arnautovic netted second-half goals for their respective sides on a night where neither outfit truly impressed.
Ex-Manchester City and Leicester City striker Iheanacho - who reunited with Brendan Rodgers after the transfer window closed - replaced the struggling Daizen Maeda at half-time for the Scottish champions and quickly legitimised the switch.
The Nigeria international killed a clever pass from fellow summer signing Benjamin Nygren before calmly steering the ball beyond Red Star goalkeeper Matheus minutes after missing a close-range effort.
Though their second-half efforts merited a goal, the hosts should have had something to show for their work before the break where Bruno Duarte smashed the side netting and cracked the crossbar.
Austria stalwart Arnautovic, who fulfilled his promise to former Bologna head coach and Red Star great Sinisa Mihajlovic by joining the club in the summer, bundled in among a congested box.
Both sides would have preferred to be in the Champions League, but with the quality, or rather lack of it at times, would suggest the second-tier competition is much more their level.
For 50 minutes in Belgrade, shades of Celtic's blunt two legs against Kairat Almaty in their Champions League play-off crossed the mind.
Rodgers' side were once again lethargic and lacked the quality required to compete at the sharp end of the pitch.
Under pressure for most of the first half, the Scots were fortunate their hosts were as profligate as they were.
Cameron Carter-Vickers twice came close to puncturing Red Star's pressure, but his tame efforts summed up a stuffy start from Celtic.
Maeda had just eight touches in his 45 minutes before he was hooked for natural striker Iheanacho.
Celtic's attack finally had a bit of dimension, and there was a flurry of chances before the breakthrough arrived. However, it didn't bring domination and the equaliser followed.
As daunting an arena the Marakana is, Celtic did not really threaten a winner late on and appeared almost happy to hold out for the draw - one which Rodgers admitted post-match is "a nice first step".
Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers: "We've come away to a difficult venue and the players really stood up to that. I thought they had a real positive attitude in the game, especially second half.
"First half, we weren't aggressive enough in our play and we were giving the ball away with loose passing and didn't quite connect the game.
"The second half, we were much better and Kelechi's provided us with a great platform.
"When they levelled it and the crowd were right behind them, that's when a team can fall but they stood up to it and they just kept their task and got a valuable point.
"What is important is that you don't lose the game and we had a strong mentality to see that through at the end."
Celtic host Hibernian in the Scottish Premiership on Saturday (15:00 BST) before continuing their Europa League campaign at home to Braga next Thursday, (17:45).
Red Star Belgrade host Radnicki 1923 in the Serbian SuperLiga on Saturday before travelling to take on Porto in Europe next week.
After the opportunity to rate players has closed, the score displayed represents the average from all the submissions by BBC Sport users.
| Team | Played | Won | Drawn | Lost | Goals For | Goals Against | Goal Difference | Points | Form, Last 6 games, Oldest first |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 Dinamo Zagreb | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 2 | 3 |
|
2 Midtjylland | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 3 |
|
3 Ludogorets Razgrad | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
|
| 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
| |
5 Freiburg | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 3 |
|
6 Sporting Braga | 1 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 3 |
|
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 1 |
| |
| 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
| |
10 Red Star Belgrade | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 0 | 1 |
|
11 Maccabi Tel Aviv | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
|
12 PAOK | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 |
|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| |
14 Bologna | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
15 Brann | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
16 Celta Vigo | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
17 FCSB | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
18 Ferencváros | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
19 Genk | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
20 Go Ahead Eagles | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| |
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| |
23 Panathinaikos | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
24 Porto | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
| 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| |
26 Red Bull Salzburg | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
27 Stuttgart | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
28 Utrecht | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
29 Viktoria Plzeň | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
30 Young Boys | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 |
|
31 Basel | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 0 |
|
32 Malmö FF | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 0 |
|
| 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 2 | -1 | 0 |
| |
34 Feyenoord | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 1 | -1 | 0 |
|
35 Fenerbahçe | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 1 | 3 | -2 | 0 |
|
36 Sturm Graz | 1 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 2 | -2 | 0 |
|
Manager: Vladan Milojevic
Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1
Manager: Brendan Rodgers
Formation: 4 - 3 - 3
Manager: Vladan Milojevic
Formation: 4 - 2 - 3 - 1
Manager: Brendan Rodgers
Formation: 4 - 3 - 3
UEFA Europa League
All competitions
Crvena Zvezda have met Celtic twice before in major European competition, losing a last 16 tie 6-2 on aggregate in the European Cup in 1968-69.
Celtic have lost two of their six European meetings with Serbian (inc. games as Yugoslavia) sides previously (W3 D1), failing to win any of their three away matches during that time.
Crvena Zvezda have lost just two of their last 13 home games in the UEFA Europa League (W8 D3), winning five of their last seven since September 2021.
This will be Celtic’s first appearance in the UEFA Europa League since 2021-22, winning three of their last four games in the competition (L1) though they were still eliminated from the group stage on that occasion.
Crvena Zvezda goalkeeper Matheus has made the fifth-most starts (59) in UEFA Europa League history (2009-10 onwards) and the only goalkeeper with more starts is Rui Patrício (69).
