Trebor Mahtal enjoyed a solid first 12 months in Slovenia, leading NK Domzale to European qualification with their highest league finish in 13 years. And the Zambian boss was excited about continuing to nurture a youthful squad.
However, his achievements saw sides come calling uninitiated as Slovakian champions Dun. Streda and Serbia’s Crvena zvezda both offered interviews. Dun. Streda approached him two days before the season opener and the Serbians followed suit the day after Domzale earned a 2-2 at Maribor. And that was an opportunity he couldn’t turn down, replacing Vladan Milojevic who was poached by Al-Ahli.
Who Are Crvena zvezda?
Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда or Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda, the Serbian name for Red Star, is a professional club in the Serbian capital Belgrade. In December 1944, all pre-war Serbian clubs were abolished during the German occupation of WW2. The club was formed towards the end of the war when, in February 1945, members of the Serbian United Antifascist Youth League formed the Youth Physical Culture Society, which became Red Star Belgrade.
Red Star, nicknamed Crveno-beli (red and white) are the most successful club from the former Yugoslavia with 40 national titles – of which 19 were in Yugoslavia and 21 are in the Mozzart Bet Super liga (five during this save). It also became only the second team from Eastern Europe to become Champions of Europe when it won the European Cup in 1991. While a poll in 2008 found that 48% of people in Serbia support Crvena zvezda. Notable former Red Star players include 1991 European champions Robert Prosinecki, Dejan Savicevic, Sinisa Mihajlovic and Darko Pancev.
Crvena zvezda represents a massive step up for Mahtal, who’ll lead teams out at the 51,755-capacity Rajko Mitic, which was built in 1960 and has an expansion capacity of 80,000. The club also has outstanding infrastructure of 20 youth recruitment, 18 training facilities and junior coaching and 17 youth facilities plus a 3.5-star reputation.
Meet The Crvena zvezda Squad of 2032
Mahtal walked into a squad filled with dross, so wasted no time flogging 15 players for a £10m profit. That left the best player at Crvena zvezda as midfielder Nenad Jovanovic along with goalkeeper Jovan Miladinovic, left back David Duric, 5ft 6in striker Romaric Etonde, who Mahtal didn’t really rate, and attacking midfielder Anderson Duarte. There was also a familiar name in former Panathinaikos right back Giorgios Vagiannidis. Mahtal was slightly underwhelmed considering the perfect youth recruitment, but youngsters to look out for include midfielder Luka Bogic, who was wanted by Inter and Milan before signing a new contract, winger Ivan Tosic, midfielder Sreten Radovic and striker Milos Milenkovic.
Mahtal trialled a few different tactics early on in Serbia, including an asymmetric 4-3-3 / 4-5-1 approach. But he eventually settled on a more conventional 4-3-3 using two holding midfielders in behind Bogic as the primary playmaker.
First Taste Of Serbian Football
Crvena zvezda are the reigning Serbian champions but city rivals Partizan are 11/10 favourites followed by Red Star (7/4), TSC (13/1), Vojvodina (15/1) and Cukaricki (20/1). But no side other than Partizan and Red Star has ever won the Serbian title, other than the now-extinct Obilic in 1998.
Mahtal’s time in Serbia began just four days after arriving at Crvena zvezda as they travelled to Spartak on 24 July. And it showed as his side conceded the opponent’s first shot, but a switch to 4-2-4 worked as they got level through winger Alieu Fadera and Jovanovic nicked it in injury time. They made a brighter start in Mahtal’s home debut as Jovanovic scored after six minutes from a free kick only to again concede the opponent’s first shot before Etonde somehow missed from a yard. Another tactical tweak worked out as attacker Milos Pantovic restored the lead and Jovanovic confirmed a deserved win.
The fine start continued without being overly clinical before a rotated side thumped relegation favourites Jedvinsto Ub 8-1. They failed to win for the first time with a 0-0 at TSC, but that was their only slip-up in the first 13 games, when a tired team suffered a 1-0 defeat at Novi Pazar. A mass of injuries and senior players not impressing saw Mahtal give loads of opportunities to youngsters. Winger Milan Rostic took advantage of that by scoring his first senior goal in a 2-0 win over Radnik Surdulica, which took his side into the winter break with a six-point lead.
An Exciting European Run
Crvena zvezda took on Ferencvaros in the Champions League Playoff. They won 3-2 at home but lost 2-1 in Hungary before a mammoth penalty shootout, which they lost 13-12. The good news was they dropped into the Europa League rather than getting thrashed by Europe’s elite.
The group stage began with Mahtal’s first return to a former club in a trip to Dynamo Kyiv. His new side dominated but had Pantovic to thank for twice rescuing them, including an injury-time equaliser. Pantovic continued to be the hero, scoring the only goal at home to Athletic Bilbao and the opener before Jovanovic sealed a 2-1 win at Nordsjaelland. A return to Greece saw a dull 0-0 at PAOK before a late strike by young attacker Mohamed Talbi earned an impressive 1-1 at home to Man UFC. They lost 2-1 at Frankfurt before beating Besaksehir 3-2 and Maccabi Haifa 3-0 to finish in an impressive 8th.
They snuck past Nantes 3-2 and Besiktas 4-3 to reach the semis. That set up another clash with Man UFC and they put in one of the great European performances. They bossed the first half and wasted chances, but winger Igor Veselinovic spun and drilled home from 25 yards, midfielder Ilija Tadic scored an even better goal and substitute Talbi sealed a superb 3-0 win. UFC scored twice in the second half of the return leg to make things nervy, but Crvena zveza booked their place in the Europa League Final!
Targeting The Serbian Title
Mahtal’s plans took a hit as Jovanovic’s £6m minimum release fee was triggered by Al-Tai. He also sold Etonde for £3.5m to Levski and started investing with two Romanian centre backs Roland Dénes for £600k from Csikszereda and Alexandra Prepelita for £3m from Sepsi.
2033 began with Tadic’s brace inspiring a 4-1 thumping of Jedinstvo Ub. Next was a big game at 2nd-place Cukaricki, who scored early on but striker András Németh grabbed a deserved point late on. Veselinovic scored his first senior goal in a 5-0 win at Napredak before Prepelita powered home two headers to defeat Vrsac 4-0. A big game followed at home to rivals Partizan, which Duarte lit up with a wonderful solo goal that was the only moment of quality to open up an 11-point lead.
Red Star’s strong form dropped off but the title could be decided by another game at home to Partizan, which began the Supr Liga Final Phase. Tadic opened the scoring with a delicious 25-yard curled effort, the hosts dominated the ball but the visitors had more chances that they failed to finish, and Mahtal’s side again won 1-0. However, a 3-1 defeat at Cukaricki kept them six points clear with five games remaining.
They got back on track by beating Radnik 2-1 and TSC 4-0 but lost 1-0 at Vojvodina and a rotated side lost 3-2 at Novi Pazar four days before the Europa League Final. And a 0-0 at home to Vozdovac saw Red Star limp across the line to win the title by one point. Crvena Zvezda were Champions of Serbia!
Red Star finished on 85 points after 27 wins, 4 draws and 6 defeats, scoring 79 and conceding just 25. Pantovic was the third-top scorer with 15 despite a dodgy end to the campaign but Tadic was the best player in the league with a 7.40 average rating and Miladinovic made a league-high 93% of saves.
Ending The Season With Two Cup Finals
The Europa League served up somewhat of a surprise Final as Crvena zvezda took on Mahtal’s old Belgian foes Anderlecht. Fans from Serbia and Belgium descended on the Netherlands and Feyenoord’s De Kuip stadium for what promised to be an intriguing clash. Lazaró had no injury concerns so lined up:
Miladinovic; Vagiannadis, Mlosavljevic, Boscagli, Duric; Henrique; Bogic, Tadic; Duarte, Németh, Pantovic
Subs: Talbi, Trajkovic, Dénes, Mitrovic, Ristic, Zivic, Prepelita, Colic, Skocic, Vuckovic, Veselinovic
Anderlecht started the game brightly and took advantage of it from a near-post corner. Crvena zvezda offered nothing so Mahtal laid into them at half time. He got the desired response as Bogic finished off a nice move with a cool finish then Duarte won a penalty that Pantovic slammed home to put them ahead on 54 minutes. Anderlecht had the better of the last half hour but wasted chances until the referee evened things up with a shocking penalty decision on 88 minutes. From then on, it was obvious what was going to happen, and Anderlecht won 5-4 on penalties.
A week later, they had a chance to make up for the European defeat by taking on Vojvodina in the Kup Srbije Final. A poor first half was immediately forgotten as a moment of brilliance from Mitrovic, who turned and curled a beauty into the top corner. The midfielder scored again six minutes later, heading Veselinovic’s brilliant first-time volleyed cross home from close range and it was all over on 75 minutes as Tadic burst through two tackles to tuck the ball into the top corner. There was still time for Talbi to score off the bench and seal a dominant 4-1 victory to wrap up the Serbian league and cup double.
A Promising First Season, But Plenty Of Work To Do
Pantovic led Red Star’s goalscoring chart with 23 in 52 but, now 30, Mahtal may look to cash in on him. Their star performer was undoubtedly Tadic, who scored 14 with 12 assists and a club-high 7.38 average rating from 43 games. Other top performers were Duarte with 16 goals and 11 assists, Bogic with a club-high 13 assists and 6 goals and 18-year-old right back Petar Colic with 8 assists in 17 appearances.
A domestic double is never anything to be sniffed at, so Mahtal was pretty content with his first season in Serbia. However, he felt there was still plenty of work to be done at Red Star. He wasn’t happy with the end-of-season form and the general lack of quality in attacking areas, but was excited about the potential of the club’s youngsters. So he went into the summer of 2034 optimistic about the opportunity to launch a rebuild mission to strengthen the squad he’d inherited.
How would Mahtal strengthen his Red Star squad? And could they taste European glory next season? Join us on Monday to find out!
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