Slovan Bratislava vs Man City Preview & Prediction | 2024-25 UEFA Champions League | League Phase
Click here for today’s sports betting tips from our expert analysts!
In the Slovakian capital this week, we have one of the more lobsided clashes in this season’s UEFA Champions League as Slovan Bratislava, arguably the weakest of the 36 teams, welcome one of the pre-season favourites, if not the pre-season favourites, Manchester City.
KICK-OFF DATE/TIME: Tuesday 1st October, 2024 - UK – 8:00pm / US ET – 3:00pm / US PT – 12:00pm
HOW TO WATCH ON TV: UK – TNT Sports / US – Not televised
HOW TO WATCH ONLINE: UK – TNT Sports / US – Paramount+
SLOVAN BRATISLAVA PREVIEW: POTENTIAL STRUGGLE FOR SLOVAN
Under the management of Vladimir Weiss, Slovan Bratislava surprised pretty much everyone to qualify for the UEFA Champions League in the first place and it was always expected to be extremely difficult for the Slovakian champions to be remotely competitive in the league phase – and that was shown on the opening match day.
They travelled to one of the also supposedly weaker sides Celtic but suffered a 5-1 annihilation at Celtic Park in Glasgow. The Celts only had a 1-0 lead at half-time but were dominant throughout the opening 45 minutes before then properly running riot in the second-half and leaving Slovan dismantled.
MAN CITY PREVIEW: DEALING WITHOUT RODRI
The absence of Rodri for what appears likely to be the entirety of this season according to Pep Guardiola is a major blow for Manchester City and how they adapt is likely to be felt further down the line. For now, as they showed with Rodri resting last month, City did enjoy a strong start to the season without the Spaniard in the side.
They come into this one on the back of a frustrating 1-1 draw against Newcastle United at the weekend after edging past Watford by two goals to one in the third round of the EFL Cup. Their goalless draw against Internazionale to kick off this season’s UEFA Champions League means they are unbeaten after nine matches across all competitions so far this season.
SLOVAN BRATISLAVA TEAM NEWS: FULLY FIT
Slovan Bratislava have a fully fit and available squad for this week with no injury concerns or suspension issues for Vladimir Weiss to deal with.
Son of Weiss and Slovan Bratislava captain, also Vladimir Weiss, has a lot of work to get through in attack and there is perhaps a worrying over reliance on him.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Takac; Blackman, Kashia, Bajric, Wimmer; Kukca, Ihnatenko; Barseghyan, Tolic, Weiss; Strelec
UNAVAILABLE:
QUESTIONABLE:
MAN CITY TEAM NEWS: PLENTY OF ISSUES
Unusually for Manchester City and Pep Guardiola, they are actually dealing with quite a few injury issues as well as the aforementioned long-term absence of Rodri.
Kevin De Bruyne remains sidelined with a groin issue, whilst Nathan Ake recovers from a hamstring injury. Oscar Bobb suffered a broken leg on the eve of the season.
PREDICTED XI (4-2-3-1): Ederson; Lewis, Dias, Akanji, Gvardiol; Stones, Kovacic; Foden, Gundogan, Doku; Haaland
UNAVAILABLE: Ake (Injured), Rodri (Injured), De Bruyne (Injured), Bobb (Injured)
QUESTIONABLE:
KEY STATS
- Slovan Bratislava have won their previous four UEFA competition matches at home this season.
- Slovan Bratislava have lost only three of their last 18 UEFA competition matches at home.
- Slovan are without a win in their last nine UEFA competition matches against English teams (D2 L7).
- Slovan Bratislava have only failed to score in two of their last 31 UEFA competition matches.
- Slovan Bratislava have won eight of their last nine home matches in all competition (L1).
- This is Man. City’s first UEFA competition match against a Slovakian club.
- Man. City are unbeaten in their last 25 UEFA club competition matches (W16 D9), since losing away from home against Real Madrid in May 2022 (L 3-1 SF 2nd leg). Only Espanyol have achieved this feat previously, they went on to play 26 successive UEFA matches without a defeat (2006-2019).
- Man. City are unbeaten in their last 24 UEFA Champions League matches (W16 D8). Only Man. United have had a longer unbeaten run in the competition: 25 Manchester United 19/09/2007–05/05/2009, 24 Manchester City 06/09/2022 – present.
- Manuel Akanji has made 49 appearances in the UEFA Champions League proper. He could become only the second Swiss player to reach the landmark of 50 after Johann Vogel (52 apps).
SLOVAN BRATISLAVA VS MAN CITY PREDICTION
As mentioned, this may well be the biggest gulf in quality between any teams meeting in the new league phase of the UEFA Champions League. Slovan Bratislava have the home advantage and will attempt to use that against a City side likely to rotate with some key injury absentees but anything other than Manchester City racking up a score would be extremely surprising and a heavy away win is to be expected.
SLOVAN BRATISLAVA VS MAN CITY TIP: MAN CITY TO WIN -2 HANDICAP
