Act V vs Red Star Belgrade
This Wednesday at the Parc des Princes, Paris Saint-Germain will play Red Star Belgrade for the first time in a competitive match. But the two sides have met four times in friendly matches.
Act I: 12 June 1979, Tournoi de Paris, at the Parc des Princes
It was a new-look Paris side that took on Red Star in the semi-finals of the capital club's summer friendly tournament. Goalkeeper Dominique Baratelli was missing, replaced by France international André Rey for the occasion. Les Rouge et Bleu featured three other guest players in the form of Nice defender Henri Zambelli, Israeli playmaker Uri Malmilian and, above all, Saint-Étienne's Argentine star old-school defender Oswaldo Piazza. Paris put on a stirring attacking performance but failed to score and conceded two late goals to Savic and Kovacevic, in front of 20,000 spectators at the Parc des Princes (0-2).
Act II: 8 February 1987, in Saint-Gratien
Paris Saint-Germain coach Tomislav Ivic invited his compatriot Velibor Vasovic, former Partizan star and now coach of Red Star to a friendly match. Paris fans also new Vasovic well after his two spells on the bench of Les Rouge et Bleu in 1976-77 and 1978-79. In Saint-Gratien, the match finished 2-2, with PSG goals to Daniel Xuereb and Vahid Halilhodzic.
Act III: 6 February 1989, in Bercy
Paris Saint-Germain organised an indoor tournament at Bercy and went down 6-4 to Red Star, despite an exceptional Safet Susic who netted twice against his compatriots. He finished tournament high scorer with 11 goals, a record for this friendly competition.
Act IV: 23 May 2010, in Chicago
Paris Saint-Germain and Red Star met in the final of the Chicago Cup. A tough match finished all square at 1-1, despite the sending off of Paris defender (and current assistant coach) Zoumana Camara for two yellow cards. Trailing and a man down, Antoine Kombouaré's team equalised through Marcos Ceara before losing the penalty shootout.