Lille vs Red Star Belgrade Prediction: French side frustrated again

Lille OSC and Red Star Belgrade lock horns for the second time this season on Thursday (20:00 GMT, TNT Sports 3) in the first leg of their Uefa Europa League knockout phase play-off tie at the Stade Pierre-Mauroy.

Below are my Lille vs Red Star Belgrade predictions, supported by all the latest team news and match odds.

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Team News

Noah Edjouma, Thomas Meunier (both hamstring), Osame Sahraoui (groin), Marc-Aurele Caillard (elbow), Ethan Mbappe (leg), Hamza Igamane and Ousmane Toure (both knee) are all set to miss out for Lille on Thursday.

Football Odds

Red Star Belgrade, meanwhile, don’t appear to have any absentees ahead of their trip to France.

Lille vs Red Star Belgrade Odds

Lille are 4/6 to exact their revenge, implying a 60% probability of success, while Red Star Belgrade are 4/1, or a 20% chance, to triumph again, with the draw offered at 11/4.

Double Chance - Draw or Red Star Belgrade @ 6/5

Lille have won only one of their nine matches in 2026, suffering six defeats and two draws. That sole victory, a 1-0 home success against SC Freiburg in their final UEL league-phase game on January 29, was only achieved thanks to a 92nd-minute penalty converted by Olivier Giroud, and the visitors had been battling with 10 men since Maximilian Eggestein's 74th-minute dismissal.

Red Star, meanwhile, are unbeaten in their last nine competitive contests (W7, D2) and last five European outings (W4, D1). They kicked off that Europa League run with a 1-0 win against Lille in Belgrade on November 6 and made it four consecutive 1-0 victories with triumphs over FCSB, Sturm Graz and Malmo before being held 1-1 at home by Celta Vigo on January 29.

Today's Football Fixtures

The Serbian started their UEL away campaign with defeats in Portugal against FC Porto (2-1) and Braga (2-0), but they did the business against Sturm Graz and Malmo in Austria and Sweden, respectively, and a trip to France shouldn't hold any fear considering the awful form Lille are in.

The visitors look good for at least a draw here, so I'm taking Red Star in the Double Chance market at 6/5.

Booking Points Over/Under +42.5 - Over 42.5 @ 11/10

Five of Red Star's eight league-phase games saw over 42.5 booking points awarded, while it was six in eight for Lille.

November's head-to-head in Serbia saw eight yellow cards, amounting to 80 booking points, dished out, with Lille responsible for five cautions (50 booking points).

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