Slovan Bratislava vs Midtjylland facts

Slovan Bratislava and Midtjylland have their eyes on a place in the new league phase of the UEFA Champions League as they meet in Slovakia for the second leg of their play-off with the tie level at 1-1.

Slovan struck first in the opening leg in Denmark on 21 August – the first game between clubs – with Cesar Blackman on target just before the hour. Midtjylland, who hit the woodwork three times, levelled through Edward Chilufya with 11 minutes left to play.

Slovan have never made it as far as the competition proper – although they have been regular participants in qualifying – while their Danish opponents' sole group appearance came four years ago.

Midtjylland have won three of their five games in the 2024/25 Champions League while Slovan have played seven matches, recording four victories.

Form guide

Slovan Bratislava

Record vs Danish clubs: W2 D3 L4 F9 A13
Home record vs Danish clubs: W2 D0 L2

Slovan's last game against Danish opposition before this tie ended in a 2-0 defeat at Copenhagen on Matchday 6 of the 2021/22 UEFA Europa Conference League, a result that ended their hopes of further progress.

That made it four successive defeats against Danish clubs – a run that ended in the first leg against Midtjylland – for Slovan, who were unbeaten in their first four matches (W2 D2). Aside from losing 3-1 at home to Copenhagen in the reverse fixture in 2021, they also went down home (0-1) and away (1-2) against Lyngby in the 2017/18 UEFA Europa League second qualifying round; those four matches and the first leg of this tie are their only contests against a Danish team since 1994.

Slovan have never featured in the Champions League proper. Indeed, only three Slovakian clubs have appeared in the group stage – Košice (1997/98), Petržalka (2005/06) and Žilina (2010/11).

Although Slovan have never made it to the competition proper, this is their 12th appearance in Champions League qualifying – and a sixth in succession.

Their sole previous Champions League play-off ended in defeat against BATE Borisov in 2014/15 (1-1 h, 0-3 a).

In 2023/24, the Bratislava side came through two rounds before losing to Maccabi Haifa in the third qualifying round (2-5 aggregate) to move into the Europa League qualifying play-offs, where they lost 7-4 on aggregate against Aris Limassol. That sent them into the Europa Conference League group stage, where they finished second in their section behind LOSC Lille, eventually losing to Sturm Graz in the knockout round play-offs (1-4 a, 0-1 h).

Slovan have come through three qualifying rounds to reach these play-offs, beating Struga of North Macedonia in the first (4-2 h, 2-1 a), Slovenian side Celje in the second (1-1 a, 5-0 h) and APOEL of Cyprus in the third (2-0 h, 0-0 a).

Slovan have won all three home European matches this season – scoring 11 goals – as many victories as in their previous 12 games (D6 L3).

The Sky Blues claimed their 30th league title overall in 2023/24, finishing 15 points clear in the Slovakian top flight.

Slovan have drawn the first leg away in seven previous UEFA ties, winning three and losing four, the most recent tie ending in a shoot-out defeat by Basel in the 2022/23 Europa Conference League round of 16 (2-2 a, 2-2 h aet, 1-4 pens). This season's second qualifying round tie against Celje was the fifth tie in which they drew the away game 1-1 and their fourth aggregate victory, the exception in the previous contest, against Olympiacos in the 2022/23 Europa League third qualifying round (2-2 a aet, 3-4 pens).

Slovan's record in five UEFA penalty shoot-outs is W1 L4:
2-3 v Sutjeska, 2019/20 Champions League first qualifying round
3-4 v KuPS, 2020/21 Europa League second qualifying round
3-4 v Olympiacos, 2022/23 Europa League third qualifying round
6-5 v Zrinjski, 2022/23 Europa Conference League qualifying play-off
1-4 v Basel, 2022/23 Europa Conference League round of 16

Midtjylland

The first leg was Midtjylland's first game against a team from Slovakia.

The Danish side's sole appearance in the Champions League group stage came in 2020/21, when they collected two points from six games to finish fourth in a section behind Liverpool, Atalanta and Ajax.

They came through three qualifying rounds to reach that group stage, beating Slavia Praha 4-1 on aggregate in the play-offs (0-0 a, 4-1 h) – their sole previous appearance at this stage of the competition.

In addition, the Danish side have featured in six Europa League qualifying play-offs (W1 L5) and one Europa Conference League, losing to Legia Warszawa in 2023/24 (3-3 h, 1-1 a aet, 6-7 pens).

Midtjylland had beaten Progrès Niederkorn in the second qualifying round of last season's Europa Conference League (3-2 aggregate) and Omonoia in the third (5-2 aggregate).

Ulvene started this season's campaign in the Champions League second qualifying round, beating Santa Coloma of Andorra 4-0 on aggregate (3-0 a, 1-0 h) before defeating Hungary's Ferencváros (2-0 h, 1-1 a) in the third qualifying round.

The win at Santa Coloma this season is Midtjylland's only success in their last 13 European away games (D6 L6).

Midtjylland claimed their fourth Danish league title in 2023/24, all in the last ten seasons.

Last season's defeat by Legia was the fourth European tie in which Midtjylland had drawn in the home first leg and the second aggregate loss. Both victories came when the first game finished 1-1 – against AEK Larnaca in the 2022/23 Champions League second qualifying round (1-1 a, 4-3 pens) and Glentoran in the 2001/02 UEFA Cup first round, the Danish side's first European tie (4-0 a).

Midtjylland's record in four UEFA penalty-shoot-outs is W1 L3:
2-4 v Manchester City, 2008/09 UEFA Cup second qualifying round
3-5 v PAOK, 2021/22 Europa Conference League knockout play-off
4-3 v AEK Larnaca, 2022/23 Champions League second qualifying round
6-7 v Legia Warszawa, 2023/24 Europa Conference League qualifying play-offs

Links and trivia

Slovan midfielder Alen Mustafić made ten league appearances for Danish side OB between January 2023 and January 2024.