Slovan Bratislava vs Manchester City facts

Slovan Bratislava face a daunting first home game in the UEFA Champions League as 2023 winners and English champions Manchester City come to Slovakia.

Slovan's debut in the competition proper was a chastening experience as they went down 1-5 at Celtic, while there was also Matchday 1 frustration for City, held 0-0 at home by Inter in a repeat of the 2023 final.

This is the sides' first fixture, and City's first game against a team from Slovakia.

Form guide

Slovan Bratislava

Record vs English clubs: W2 D2 L8 F10 A26
Home record vs English clubs: W2 D2 L2

Slovan lost 1-2 at home and 0-1 away against Wolverhampton Wanderers in the 2019/20 UEFA Europa League group stage, making it five successive defeats by English teams.

The Bratislava club won two of their first three games against English clubs, both home first legs – 2-0 against Tottenham in the 1962/63 European Cup Winners' Cup quarter-final and 1-0 against Derby in the 1975/76 European Cup first round. They lost those ties 2-6 and 1-3 on aggregate respectively and have lost seven of their subsequent nine matches, drawing two.

Slovan were unbeaten in their first four home games against English visitors (W2 D2) but have lost the last two.

This is the first time Slovan have featured in the Champions League proper. Indeed, only three Slovakian clubs appeared in the group stage – Košice (1997/98), Petržalka (2005/06) and Žilina (2010/11).

Although Slovan are in the competition proper for the first time, 2024/25 marked their 12th appearance in Champions League qualifying – and a sixth in succession.

Slovan came through four qualifying rounds to reach the league phase, 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). That set up a play-off against Midtjylland, and after a 1-1 first-leg draw in Denmark, Slovan triumphed 3-2 in Bratislava thanks to late goals from Marko Tolić (82) and Tigran Barseghyan (86).

Slovan are one of five clubs to be making their Champions League debuts in 2024/25, along with Aston Villa, Brest, Bologna and Girona.

In 2023/24, the Bratislava side came through two Champions League 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 went out 4-7 on aggregate against Aris Limassol. That sent them into the Europa Conference League group stage, where they finished second behind LOSC Lille, eventually losing to Sturm Graz in the knockout round play-offs (1-4 a, 0-1 h).

Slovan have won all four home European matches this season – scoring 14 goals – as many victories as in their previous 13 games (D6 L3).

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

Manchester City

This is City's 14th successive season in the Champions League proper; they have featured in every campaign since 2011/12 and have reached the knockout stages in each of the last 11.

Having claimed the club's first Champions League title in 2022/23, Pep Guardiola's side won all six group games for the first time last season to finish six points clear of Leipzig in the standings. That was the seventh successive season in which City had come first in their group.

City then brushed past Copenhagen in the round of 16 (3-1 a, 3-1 h) but lost an epic quarter-final against eventual champions Real Madrid (3-3 a, 1-1 h, 3-4 pens) – the third season in a row in which they had faced the Spanish side.

The Cityzens have won 19 of their last 34 away European matches (D10 L5) and are unbeaten in 11 (W5 D6), since a 3-1 extra-time loss at Real Madrid in the 2021/22 semi-final second leg.

Guardiola's side claimed a fourth successive Premier League title in 2023/24 – a new English record – but lost to neighbours Manchester United in the FA Cup final to miss out on a second successive double.

Links and trivia

Slovan captain Vladimír Weiss was a City player between 2006 and 2009, winning the FA Youth Cup in 2008. He made three first-team appearances, scoring once.

Weiss spent the first half of 2010 on loan at Bolton.

Róbert Mak joined City's academy in 2004, aged 13. Also part of their 2007/08 FA Youth Cup-winning squad, he left in 2010 without making a first-team appearance.

Have also played in England:
Kevin Wimmer (Tottenham 2015–17, Stoke 2017–21)
Juraj Kucka (Watford 2021/22 loan).

Latest news

Slovan

Slovan have won seven of their eight league games in 2024/25, including Friday's 4-2 victory at Michalovce in which David Strelec scored twice.

Tigran Barseghyan was also on target to make it seven goals in eight league appearances this season.

A 0-5 loss at home to Žilina on 1 September ended Slovan's unbeaten start to the season in all competitions (W9 D3).

Slovan have lost just twice in 19 games in all competitions this season, but conceded five in each of those defeats.

Slovan were 6-1 winners at Beluša in the Slovakian Cup third round on 25 September.

Lukáš Pauschek has not played since 27 July due to a shoulder injury.

Manchester City

On Saturday City were held 1-1 at Newcastle, making it successive Premier League draws for the first time since March and ending a run of 14 league matches in which they had scored more than once.

Pep Guardiola's side are unbeaten in 29 league matches (W23 D6), one short of the club record.

City's winning start to the Premier League season was ended by a 2-2 draw at home to Arsenal on 22 September, John Stones scoring an added-time equaliser.

Erling Haaland had given City an early lead – his tenth league goal of the season. It was also his 100th City goal in his 105th appearance.

City were 2-1 winners at home to Watford in the League Cup on 24 September; they will visit Tottenham in the last 16.

Rodri suffered a cruciate ligament injury against Arsenal and has undergone surgery that is expected to rule him out for the rest of the season.

Kevin De Bruyne has not played since going off at half-time on Matchday 1 with a groin injury.

Nathan Aké has been out since suffering a thigh inury in Netherlands' 2-2 draw against Germany on 10 September.

Oscar Bobb suffered a leg fracture in training on 14 August.