We went to see Red Star play Mladost Lucani on a chilly Thursday evening in December. We walked there from central Belgrade. It’s quite a walk but not unpleasant as it’s rather lively parts of the city you’re walking through.

We bought our tickets at the ticket windows of the stadium before the start of the match. Red Star’s crowds are rather small when it’s a low-profile league fixture, and not being helped by it being mid-week and the low temperatures, there can’t have been more than a few thousand fans, which included some sat scattered around the covered main stand, where we sat, and a significant group of hardcore fans behind the goal.

Still, it’s a massively impressive stadium and Red Star’s fans made the match a real treat. During the whole of the first half they rather monotonously sang one song, but, surprisingly, at the start of the second half they started a massive display with flares that lasted for at least 15 minutes. Not something we’d seen anywhere else before.