Man City vs Crvena Zvezda LIVE early team news, lineup and how to watch Champions League opener

Manchester City are looking to become only the second club to defend the Champions League title since the European Cup's rebrand in 1992.

June 2023 will always be etched into the history books but Pep Guardiola has been at pains to stress that he is only thinking about September 2023 and onwards. City begin their defence against Serbia's finest in Crvena Zvezda - also known as Red Star Belgrade.

The Blues are having to navigate a number of injuries with Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones, Mateo Kovacic and Jack Grealish all out with setbacks, although the latter pair are nearing a return. Academy products Oscar Bobb and Rico Lewis make the squad via City's 'B-list', which allows young homegrown talent not to take up space in the 'A-list' squad.

City will be expected to win comfortably against a club who won the competition in 1991. Although steeped in history, Zvezda have failed to make the knockouts of Europe's elite competition since.

Follow all action as it happens in our live blog below

City finally won the Champions League last season and followed that up with a Super Cup win in Athens last month.

The new Champions of Europe have ambitions to retain the title they have spent so long trying to win and have been handed a relatively straightforward group against Red Star, RB Leipzig and Young Boys.

Read how our writers think City should line up here >>>

In the UEFA Youth League - the under-19s version of the Champions League - City ran out comfortable 5-2 victors over Red Star.

Emilio Lawrence (pictured below) grabbed two goals as Will Dickson and Kane Taylor put the hosts in command.

Jaden Heskey - son of ex-England star Emile - completed the rout after Red Star had pulled two goals back.

See how it all unfolded -