Dejan Stanković closes his eyes and pictures Red Star Belgrade lining up in the Champions League group stage. That is the only image the Serbian coach says he allows himself to see, even with a tricky Israeli obstacle standing directly in the way this week.
"I dream of leading Red Star to the Champions League," Stanković said, according to ONE. "I close my eyes and see the team in the Champions League. We could talk about the Europa League, where we have a better chance, but no. The aspiration is only the Champions League."
He was equally blunt about what failure would mean. "There will be great anger if we don't reach it. I put my head on the block. Great disappointments come from high expectations," he said, framing the tie as a test he has no intention of failing.
The demons in the article's title are not abstract. Stanković was in charge of Red Star in August 2022 when the Serbian champions were eliminated in Champions League qualifying by Maccabi Haifa, 5-4 on aggregate, undone by a late own goal in the second leg. He resigned days later, a defeat he has previously described as staying with him "like a bone in the throat."
Four years on, another Israeli team stands between him and the competition he craves. Red Star face Hapoel Be'er Sheva, the reigning Israeli champions, in the third qualifying round, with the first leg on Tuesday, August 4, at a neutral venue in Szombathely, Hungary, and the winner advancing to the playoff round — one tie from the league phase itself.
Stanković returns to Red Star's bench with real momentum behind him. Since coming back in December after a difficult spell at Spartak Moscow, he has steered the club to a sixth consecutive Serbian championship, finishing 13 points clear of the runner-up, and Red Star have blitzed their first two European qualifying rounds by a combined 9-0.
Hapoel Be'er Sheva arrive having grinded their way past Icelandic champions Víkingur Reykjavík, winning the second leg 2-0 at a neutral venue to progress 3-2 on aggregate, and go into the tie missing four players through injury.
It will be the first-ever meeting between the two clubs, though Stanković's history with Israeli opposition looms large over the build-up regardless. As a player he won everything there is to win in Europe, lifting the 2010 Champions League with Inter Milan under José Mourinho after a career built in Red Star's academy, Lazio and Inter.
For Stanković, beating an Israeli club in qualifying now carries the weight of unfinished business as much as ambition. Red Star have the aggregate scoreline and the recent history in their favour; Hapoel Be'er Sheva have already shown, against Víkingur, that they can grind out results away from home when it matters most.
