Football: Red Star shocks Liverpool for first 26-year win in Champions League

BELGRADE: Liverpool are facing the threat of a 2-0 defeat by Red Star Belgrade in the Serbian capital on Tuesday (November 6th) in the group stage of the Champions League.

Milan Pavkov scored twice in seven minutes in the first half to give Red Star their first Champions League win in 26 years.

Liverpool still retain the lead in Group C, but could settle for either Naples or Paris Saint-Germain, which will meet Tuesday in Italy, and will face both teams in their last two group matches.

Winner of the European Cup in 1991, Red Star had not gone beyond the qualifying stages of the Champions League since the following year.

But driven by vehement support at home, the champions of Serbia were inspired to condemn Liverpool to a second defeat in the group after their defeat in Napoli last month.

Last season's Champions League finalists paid for a botched start and Jurgen Klopp's decision to make three changes to the team that had started a 1-1 draw at Arsenal on Saturday.

Klopp gave Roberto Firmino a break with Daniel Sturridge in the lead and the English striker flamed when it seemed easier to score with the goal at his mercy in the 18th minute.

It was very expensive because four minutes later, Liverpool was lagging behind.

Pavkov stands high the highest in a busy penalty area to propel the home corner from Marko Marin and provoke frenzied festive scenes.

Moments later, Red Star and its 55,000 fans gathered in the Rajko Mitic stadium were in the land of dreams. Pavkov regained possession of the ball midway through the Liverpool semifinal, advanced and triggered a powerful shot into the upper right corner of Alison Becker.

Klopp acknowledged his initial mistake at half-time by throwing Firmino and Joe Gomez on the break.

Sadio Mane had a great chance to give the visitors a lifeline, but failed to force the ball across the line at close range.

Red Star had conceded 10 goals by being crushed by PSG and Liverpool in their last two European meetings.

However, the proposal is different at home and after defeating Napoli tied (0-0) in the first match of their group, they prevented Liverpool from retiring after the break.

The decision to leave Xherdan Shaqiri back in Britain because of political tensions will now be called into question, as the invasion of the defeat of the Swiss international with respect to defense was sorely missed.

Originally from Kosovo, Shaqiri provoked outrage in Serbia with a "double eagle" gesture in favor of Kosovo, which represents the Albanian flag during Switzerland's victory over Serbia in Russia.

Klopp's men dominated the ball but were largely limited to Milan Borjan's efforts largely deflecting Mohamed Salah's shot before the Egyptian hit the center of the posts from the corner.

Liverpool is still unbeaten since 11 games since the start of the Premier League season, but has now lost its last four Champions League games away from Anfield.