Champions League holders Manchester City begin the defence of their continental crown when they welcome Red Star Belgrade to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday.

Pep Guardiola's troops defeated West Ham United 3-1 on Saturday to maintain their 100% league start to the season, while Red Star were beaten 2-1 by Cukaricki in the Serbian SuperLiga.

Match preview

A few months after finally attaining European supremacy against Inter Milan, City look to start their Champions League defence with a positive performance and result.

Guardiola's men have unsurprisingly started the 2023-24 season strongly, claiming maximum points from five Premier League matches, with the latest victory against West Ham at the London Stadium.

The game could have gone awry had the Cityzens not turned the game around after falling behind before half time, but goals from Jeremy Doku, Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland secured maximum points.

Haaland, last year's top scorer, did not have his scoring boots on for most of the game, evidenced by the failure to convert several promising chances before his 86th-minute strike.

Despite failing to score in last year's semis and final, the Norwegian's 12 goals saw him end atop the scoring log en route to continental glory, and Guardiola will hope the devastating centre-forward puts the Serbian side to the sword on Tuesday.

Unlike the Cityzens, the away side have wobbled recently, losing two of their last three domestic fixtures after initially impressing when the season started.

The Serbian champions picked up four consecutive victories at the start of their season, but two defeats in three games have shown vulnerability at the worst possible time.

The inability to keep clean sheets has been bothersome for Barak Bakhar's side, with six goals let in in the last three games.

By contrast, the Star kept three shut-outs in their opening four league fixtures, conceding one goal in a 4-1 thrashing of Mladost in August.

That makes Red Star rank underdogs for Tuesday's meeting in Manchester, where avoiding a resounding defeat will be a miracle.