Bayern München vs Slovan Bratislava facts

Bayern München put their perfect home UEFA Champions League phase record on the line against eliminated Slovan Bratislava as the league phase concludes.

Bayern have 12 points and were confirmed in the knockout phase on Matchday 7 despite a 3-0 loss at Feyenoord – their third loss in this season's competition.

Slovan are one of two sides alongside Young Boys to have lost their first seven matches, going down 1-3 at home to Stuttgart in the last.

This is the teams' first meeting, and Bayern's first game against a Slovakian club since 1988, while Slovan are facing German opponents for the first time in 15 years.

Form guide

Bayern

Record vs Slovakian clubs: W3 D1 L0 F9 A4
Home record vs Slovakian clubs: W2 D0 L0

Bayern have won their last three games against Slovakian clubs, most recently overcoming Dunajská Streda in the 1988/89 UEFA Cup second round (3-1 h, 2-0 a).

The Munich club had also triumphed against Tatran Prešov in the 1966/67 European Cup Winners' Cup first round (1-1 a, 3-2 h).

The German club have featured in the Champions League proper in every season since 2008/09, reaching the knockout rounds in each one of those campaigns.

Overall, this is Bayern's 28th campaign in the Champions League proper, level with Porto and fewer only than Barcelona and Real Madrid (both 29).

A 1-0 defeat at Aston Villa on Matchday 2 this season ended Bayern's record run of 41 Champions League group/league phase matches unbeaten (W37 D4).

Bayern won five of their six group games in 2023/24, then edged past Lazio (3-1 aggregate) and Arsenal (3-2 agg) before conceding two late goals in the semi-final second leg at Real Madrid to bow out (2-2 h, 1-2 a).

The six-time European champions have reached the quarter-finals or better in 12 of their last 13 Champions League campaigns, the exception a last-16 elimination by Liverpool in 2018/19.

Bayern have won 23 of their last 28 home Champions League games, drawing four – the only loss a 2-3 reverse to Paris Saint-Germain in the 2020/21 quarter-final first leg. This season they have beaten GNK Dinamo 9-2 – the first time a team had scored nine goals in a Champions League game – Benfica and Paris, both 1-0, in Munich.

A side coached by Thomas Tuchel relinquished their hold on the Bundesliga title in 2023/24, finishing third behind Bayer Leverkusen and Stuttgart. It was the first time Bayern had failed to win the title since 2011/12 and their lowest league placing since 2010/11, when they were also third.

Tuchel was replaced by Vincent Kompany in the summer.

Slovan Bratislava

Record vs German clubs: W2 D1 L4 F7 A14
Away record vs German clubs: W0 D1 L2

The Matchday 7 loss at home to Stuttgart was Slovan's first game against a German club since August 2010, when they lost 2-3 on aggregate against the same opponents in the UEFA Europa League qualifying play-offs (0-1 h, 2-2 a).

That was their third away game against Bundesliga opponents and the first time they had avoided defeat. They were beaten 3-0 in the UEFA Cup second leg at both Borussia Dortmund in the 1994/95 second round and Kaiserslautern in the 1995/96 first round, completing a 2-4 aggregate loss on each occasion.

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.

In 2023/24, the Slovakian 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, losing 7-4 on aggregate against Aris Limassol. That sent them into the Europa Conference League, where they eventually lost to Sturm Graz in the knockout round play-offs (1-4 a, 0-1 h).

Slovan lost four of their eight away European matches in 2023/24, winning the others; they were unbeaten in their four away games in qualifying this season (W1 D3) but have lost at Celtic (1-5), Girona (0-2) and Atlético de Madrid (1-3) in the league phase.

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

Links and trivia

Have played in Germany:
Kevin Wimmer (Köln 2012–15, Hannover 2018/19 loan, Karlsruher 2021 loan)
Róbert Mak (Nürnberg 2010–14)

Juraj Kucka scored Slovakia's final goal in a 3-1 friendly win against Germany in Augsburg on 29 May 2016. The game marked Joshua Kimmich's international debut while Leroy Sané won his second cap.

Harry Kane scored England's extra-time winner against a Slovakia team featuring Kucka in the UEFA EURO 2024 round of 16.

Latest news

Bayern

Bayern went six points clear in the Bundesliga with their fifth successive league victory, and 16 goals scored, on Saturday as Harry Kane and Minjae Kim earned a 2-1 success at Freiburg.

Bayern lost 2-1 in Mainz on 14 December, their first Bundesliga defeat this season. They have since beaten Leipzig 5-1 – both teams scoring in the first two minutes for the first time in Bundesliga history – and, in 2025, won 1-0 at Borussia Mönchengladbach on 11 January, 5-0 against Hoffenheim four days later and 3-2 at home to Wolfsburg on 18 January.

Kane, who converted penalties against Gladbach and Hoffenheim, has 17 goals in this season's Bundesliga and 26 in 30 games for club and country this season. The striker has converted his last 27 penalties in all competitions.*

Josip Stanišić came on on Saturday having been out since 19 August with a knee injury; he replaced Leon Goretzka, who had a thigh problem, shortly before half-time.

Sacha Boey (out since 16 December, ankle) was an unused substitute at Freiburg, where João Palhinha came on for his first appearance since suffering an adductors injury in mid-November.

Alphonso Davies had to be substituted shortly before the break at Feyenoord with a muscular problem and missed the weekend win.

Daniel Peretz has been missing since 8 January with a kidney problem.

Summer signing Hiroki Ito (out since 28 July, broken metatarsal) needed another operation on 5 November.

On 21 January Bayern announced Hoffenheim midfielder Tom Bischof will join in the summer.

Slovan Bratislava

The Matchday 7 loss to Stuttgart was Slovan's first competitive game of 2025.

Slovan have won 14 of their 18 league games in 2024/25 (D2 L2) including seven of the last nine, beating DAC Dunajská Streda 2-1 in the most recent on 14 December.

David Strelec has scored in two of Slovan's last three games and three of the last five.

Strelec was also on target in a 3-1 friendly win against Al-Shahania of Qatar on 14 January, Róbert Mak and Guram Kashia also finding the net.

Slovan were 2-1 friendly winners against Al-Gharafa on 16 January thanks to goals from Kenan Bajrić and Július Szöke.

Matúš Vojtko started against Al-Shahania having not played since 4 December due to a shin injury.

Juraj Kucka underwent knee surgery on 11 January having suffered an injury at the start of Slovan's winter training camp and is expected to be sidelined for at least two months.

Danylo Ignatenko has not played since suffering an injury in the warm-up at Atlético de Madrid on Matchday 6.

Slovan captain Vladimír Weiss sat out the defeat by Stuttgart through illness.