Rodić's consistency in the Champions League

Off the field, calm, quiet and withdrawn, and in all matches a reliable and trustworthy player. In the glorious history of Red Star, there are not many players who can boast of a large number of matches played in the Champions League wearing the jersey of the Serbian giant. The guy born in Drvar found himself in the selected group and is absolutely a Rodić footballer who has the privilege and opportunity to point out that this is his third group stage in the Champions League with Zvezda.

At the Etihad Stadium, thirty-two-year-old Milan Rodić showed his experience, but also played very combatively and aggressively against the current European champion. In the tactical ideas of the Israeli expert Barak Bahar, it could be clearly seen that the left back, and possibly the stopper of the red and white team, was given a special task. In addition, the naked eye of the observer could see that Rodić did the job more than excellently. He entered the duels against the regular players of Manchester City strongly, won aerial battles, slipped on the ball in time and "patched" every crack that appeared in the defensive line. Also, it seemed that he was in every part of the field, and was often "breathing down the neck" of the midfielders of the champions of England. He received numerous applauses and there is no doubt that for the umpteenth time he has shown his playing class.

Since the 2018/19 season, the footballer born in 1991 has played 11 games in the Champions League, out of a total of 13 played by Zvezda in the new millennium. An interesting fact is the fact that Rodić was a full-time starter in every match, with the exception of the match against Olympiakos in Piraeus when he left the field towards the end of the match. He played 90 minutes in two legs against Napoli, Paris Saint-Germain and Tottenham, while missing the Anfield game against Liverpool and Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena due to injuries. He participated and made a big contribution in the victories over Liverpool and the Greek Olympiakos at the "Rajko Mitić" stadium.

If we count the qualifying matches for the Champions League, we can attribute another 26 appearances to him, and there are no words to describe the performance he had and achieved on the way to Red Star two years in a row to the most prestigious football competition in Europe.

The popular Roda played a total of 240 matches in the shirt of his beloved club, and is currently one of the players with the most appearances in Ljutice Bogdana. From season to season, he became more and more experienced and wiser on the field, and through numerous big and important matches of our club on the international stage, he gained confidence and made it clear that he is not afraid of any rival across the street.

In addition to Milan Rodić, I should also mention Miloš Degenek, who played all 13 games with Zvezda in the Champions League in the 21st century. The representative of Australia recorded full minutes in the previous two group stages, while against the current champion of Europe, he entered the field at the end of the match. Also, this is the second time for Mirko Ivanić to represent Crvena zvezda in the highest quality football competition, and he recorded performances in three matches. There is, of course, Zoran Popović, who is part of the team in the Champions League for the third time.