Red Star Belgrade tie 'free hit' for Larne - Haveron

Larne boss Gary Haveron said their Champions League second qualifying round tie against Serbian giants Red Star Belgrade will be a "free hit" for his side. The Inver Reds progressed to the second qualifying round for the first time courtesy of a 3-1 aggregate win over San Marino side Tre Fiori. Haveron's side came from behind to win the second leg 2-1 at Inver Park and they will now welcome Red Star, who played in the league phase of the Champions League as recently as the 2024-25 campaign, to Larne for the first leg on Tuesday, 21 July. "Beyond proud we can bring a club to these shores and showcase our club. It's a huge draw, they're a historical and massive football club," Haveron told BBC Sport NI. "It's seen as a free hit for us because people won't expect too much, we'll go and try be as competitive as we possibly can. "We'll pay them the respect but we'll try impose ourselves on the game and see what we can do. We're maybe not shoulder to shoulder with them but while we're on the pitch we'll try our best to get a result." Larne come from behind to beat nine-man Tre Fiori 'The boys showed tremendous character' Larne went into the second leg at home with a 1-0 lead after Matty Lusty's goal in San Marino, but that was quickly cancelled out when Pietro Mengucci scored for the visitors on 11 minutes on Tuesday. The Irish Premiership champions responded well and levelled through a Matt Ridley header before the break with Dan Bent then stroking home a penalty to secure the comeback win. Both Simone Rea and Tommaso Bernardi were sent off as Tre Fiori finished with nine men and Haveron was relieved his side got over the line for their first Champions League win. "I wasn't thrilled after 11 minutes when we conceded the goal, how hard we worked out there in San Marino to have a one goal lead and we give it away after 11 minutes wasn't like us," he added. "We wanted a fast start and it was anything but that, but the boys showed tremendous character to drag themselves back into it. "When we got back level before half-time I was extremely confident we'd lift our game second half and it worked out well as we went on and won the tie."