There are a lot of ways to lose a Champions League qualifier. Dejan Stanković found the one that leaves a club no room to defend you.
Red Star Belgrade went into the third qualifying round against Hapoel Be'er Sheva as the clear favorites, and for a long stretch of the second leg they were still in the tie. Level on the night at their own Rajko Mitić Stadium, chasing the 1-0 deficit from the first leg. Then, in the 57th minute, with the score at 0-0, the whole thing came apart at the touchline rather than on the pitch.
Stanković had been protesting a penalty appeal after Nyberg waved away a foul on Mohammed Abu Fani. Nyberg let play continue, then came back and sent Stanković off. What happened next is what actually ended his time at the club: he spat toward the official, then turned to his own fans on the way down the tunnel and taunted them. Soon after he left the field, Be'er Sheva scored, then added a second. Abu Fani was sent off in stoppage time for Red Star. Final: a 2-0 loss on the night, 3-0 on aggregate, and a drop into the Europa League qualifying playoffs.
The case for Red Star acting the moment the final whistle blew is a strong one. A manager's single job at the sharpest moment of a knockout tie is to keep eleven men on the pitch and keep his own head so his players keep theirs. Stanković did the opposite. He removed himself from the technical area at 0-0, in a tie his side could still win, over a decision he was never going to change by screaming at it. Everything that went wrong afterward flowed from a self-inflicted wound.
President Zvezdan Terzić put it more bluntly than any columnist could: "He cannot allow himself such behaviour and such a red card with the score at 0-0." The result was beside the point; the conduct wasn't. You can lose a two-legged tie to a well-drilled opponent and keep your job. You can't spit toward a referee and taunt the fans who fill your stadium and expect the badge to protect you.
Shortly after the match, Stanković told the players in the dressing room he was resigning. Red Star cancelled the usual post-match press conference, and the split was confirmed the next day. Whether it's officially a resignation or a dismissal barely matters. Red Star moved fast, choosing accountability over sentiment. Given who Stanković is to that club, sentiment would have been the easy, forgivable choice.
This wasn't some journeyman flaming out. Across three spells at the club, he's racked up 149 wins against 26 draws and 20 losses, a record weighted heavily toward winning. That number is what makes this hard to write off as just a bad coach's meltdown. Stanković is a good coach who keeps combusting at the exact moments Red Star can least afford it, on the continental nights where qualification means money and prestige.
It's happened before. Stanković left the job in 2022 after Red Star were knocked out by Maccabi Haifa in the Champions League play-offs, then came back in December 2025. Two exits, same failure: falling short of the Champions League group stage, this time while losing his composure so badly that he became the story instead of the scoreline. Once is an emotional lapse. Twice, at the same doorway, starts to look like a pattern a serious club has to plan around.
What makes the collapse sting more is how Red Star got here. They'd reached this round by thrashing Larne 5-0 for a 9-0 aggregate score. Hapoel had been shaky by comparison; their qualifying win over Vikingur Reykjavik snapped a run without a victory. The favorites had every advantage except a manager who could stay in his seat.
Red Star have already turned to Albert Riera, the 44-year-old Spaniard who signed a two-year deal after leaving Eintracht Frankfurt in May. His stint there was short and unremarkable, no top-seven Bundesliga finish, so nobody should pretend this is a clear upgrade on paper. Call it a reset, not a marquee hire. Riera's first real test is against Viktoria Plzeň in the Europa League playoff, first leg August 20, return August 27. Judge him on that when it happens.
But the decision that got Red Star to this point was the correct one regardless of how Riera does. When a manager forfeits self-control on the biggest night, he forfeits the moral authority to demand it from his players. Red Star recognized that in the time it takes to walk from the touchline to the tunnel.
