Stuttgart take aim at Red Star

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Stuttgart's welcome win at home against Bochum on Saturday halted a run of three games without victory for Sebastian Hoeneß's side, who are headed to Belgrade with renewed confidence. VfB's task of breaching the Champions League's worst defence - Red Star have conceded 16 times in the league phase so far - hasn't been made easy by the absences of injured forwards Deniz Undav, El Bilal Touré and attacker Jamie Leweling. Touré scored an injury-time winner in Stuttgart's last-gasp triumph at Juventus - the Swabians' sole win of the competition thus far - but recently returned from international duty with a broken foot. Wednesday's visitors are thus pinning their goal hopes on striker Ermedin Demirović, although with Chris Führich, Justin Diehl, Josha Vagnoman and Nick Woltemade all netting their first Bundesliga goals of the season recently, the scoring options from elsewhere on the pitch appear to be increasing. Die Schwaben's hopes of boosting their qualification chances with three points in Serbia received a lift with the return of midfield fulcrum Angelo Stiller at the weekend. 

Red Star's game against Jedinstva was postponed due to adverse weather conditions on Saturday, allowing Vladan Milojević more time to prepare his players for their latest continental test. The 1991 European champions have won 13 of their 14 games in the domestic Super Liga so far, but they are yet to gain a point in the Champions League and sit second from last in the 36-team table. Despite that, Serbia's champions will point to a good home record against Bundesliga opponents, with Red Star boasting 11 wins and five draws in 20 games against German teams at their famed Rajko Mitić Stadium, which is locally known as the Maracana. Their Nigerian attacker Peter Olayinka is set to miss the Stuttgart game with an achilles problem, while Ognjen Mimović continues to be sidelined with a foot injury. A familiar face to VfB fans, the Swabians' on-loan winger Silas has scored four goals and provided one assist in his 11 games for Red Star this season.        

Watch: Ermedin Demirović at his very best 

• This is Stuttgart's sixth season of Champions League football. They are bidding to reach the knockouts for the third time.
• Undav is Stuttgart's top scorer in 2024/25 with seven goals in all competitions, including one in the Champions League.
• Silas contributed five goals and five assists to Stuttgart's surprise runners-up finish in last season's Bundesliga.
• Hoeneß had just guided Bayern Munich's reserves to the 3. Liga title the last time a German team won the Champions League - the Bayern seniors - in 2019/20.
• VfB have faced Serbian opposition once before, beating Partizan Belgrade 2-0 in the 2008/09 UEFA Cup groups.
• Red Star have lost all four of their previous Champions League meetings with German clubs, going down to Bayern and RB Leipzig by an aggregate score of 14-2.

Probable teams

Red Star: Ilić - Rodić, Djiga, Spajić (c), Seol - Kanga, Elšnik, Krunić - Silas, Maksimović, Ndiaye
Out: Olayinka (achilles), Mimović (metatarsal)
Doubtful: - 
Coach: Vladan Milojević 

Stuttgart: Nübel - Vagnoman, Roualt, Chabot, Mittelstädt - Karazor (c), Stiller - Rieder, Millot, Führich - Demirović 
Out: Leweling (hamstring), Raimund (thigh), Touré (foot), Undav (thigh), Zagadou (knee)
Doubtful: Al-Dakhil (ill)
Coach: Sebastian Hoeneß

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