St. Pölten vs Slavia Praha match facts

A late winning goal in Prague enabled St. Pölten to register their first victory in UEFA Women's Champions League Group B after defeats in their two opening games, but Slavia Praha remain without a point or a goal in the section as they take the field for the reverse fixture in Austria.

The clubs had never met in European competition before their Matchday 3 encounter, which was decided by an eye-catching left-footed strike in the first minute of added time from St. Pölten's Slovakian midfielder Mária Mikolajová.

St. Pölten, eliminated in round 1 of qualifying in last season's competition, recorded comprehensive victories at that stage this time around against North Macedonian side Ljuboten (7-0) and Dinamo-BSUPC of Belarus (3-0). Celia Brancao-Ribeiro's side then required extra time to get the better of Finnish champions KuPS Kuopio in round 2 (1-0 a, 2-2 h).

The seven-time ÖFB-Frauenliga champions have reached the last 16 of this competition once before, in 2020/21, going 2-0 up in the first leg away to Swedish outfit Rosengård before drawing 2-2, then losing 2-0 at home a week later.

The Austrian side again let a two-goal advantage slip on Matchday 2 as they went down 4-3 at home to Roma. That followed a 4-0 defeat at Wolfsburg on their group stage debut. The Czech double winners, meanwhile, were defeated in their first two group games by their group rivals from Italy (0-1 a) and Germany (0-2 h).

St. Pölten cannot go through or be eliminated on Matchday 4, while Slavia will unable to finish in the top two if they do not win.

Slavia, who reached the last eight of the UEFA Women's Champions League on three occasions in the space of four campaigns from 2015/16 to 2018/19, won last season's Czech league and cup, seeing off the challenge of Prague rivals Sparta in both competitions.

Karel Piták's side became the first Czech club to seal a group stage spot in this competition following a narrow round 2 win against Icelandic champions Valur, Tereza Kožárová scoring the only goal across the two legs (1-0 a, 0-0 h).

Players to watch

Mária Mikolajová

Slovakian midfielder Mikolajová enabled St. Pölten to become the first Austrian winners of a UEFA Women's Champions League group game with her sumptuous late strike away to Slavia on Matchday 3.

It was the 23-year-old's sixth UEFA Women's Champions League goal and second in successive Group B matches after she had also found the net late on in the 4-3 defeat at home to Roma.

Mikolajová has been a St. Pölten player since 2019, when she joined from Sparta Praha, and has won back-to-back Austrian Frauen-Bundesliga titles in the last two seasons.

She also helped St. Pölten lift the 2021/22 Frauen-Fussballcup, scoring five goals – the joint highest number in the competition.

A seasoned Slovakian international, Mikolajová has scored nine goals in 60 appearances for her country at senior level.

Franny Černá

An ever-present starter in Slavia's 2022/23 UEFA Women's Champions League campaign, the 25-year-old forward is still awaiting her first goal in the competition.

Černá was born and raised in California to Czech parents, starting her career with Chicago college side DePaul Blue Demons.

She joined Slavia in February 2019 and helped the club win the Czech Women's First League title in her first full season.

First capped by the Czechia national side in March 2020, most of her appearances have been as a substitute and she is yet to score an international goal.

Černá was a Czech double winner in 2021/22, scoring nine goals in all competitions across the season.

Key facts

St. Pölten have conceded four goals in each of their last three defeats in the UEFA Women's Champions League.

The Austrian side are without a win in their last three European home games (D1 L2).

St. Pölten have scored in all but two of their last 17 UEFA Women's Champions League matches.

Slavia have won only one of their last 11 UEFA Women's Champions League games (D2 L8).

The Prague club have failed to score in seven of their last eight European fixtures, including all of the last four.