Preview: FC Midtjylland vs. Slovan Bratislava - prediction, team news, lineups
© Imago
By Oliver Thomas, Senior Reporter
Published: August 19 2024 | 20:50
Last updated: August 20 2024 | 13:56
FC Midtjylland welcome Slovan Bratislava to MCH Arena for the first leg of their Champions League playoff tie on Wednesday night.
The winners of this two-legged tie will qualify for the newly-expanded 36-team Champions League, while the losers will drop down into the Europa League.
Match preview
After missing out on qualifying for European competition altogether last season, Midtjylland are vying to progress to the Champions League proper for just the second time in their history after competing in the 2020-21 group stage.
Last season's Danish SuperLiga champions cruised to a 4-0 aggregate win over UE Santa Coloma in the Champions League second qualifying round at the end of last month, before edging past Ferencvaros over two legs last week.
Goals from Adam Buksa and Franculino Dju sealed a 2-0 first-leg win on home soil, before Oliver Sorensen cancelled out Ibrahim Cisse's early opener to rescue a 1-1 second-leg draw in Hungary last Tuesday and advance 3-1 on aggregate.
Thomas Thomasberg's side have since extended their impressive unbeaten run across all competitions to nine matches, winning five of their last six including a 2-1 away victory over Lyngby in the Danish Superliga.
Sitting third in the top flight after five matches and just one point behind leaders Silkeborg, Midtjylland will now shift their attention back to the Champions League, aiming to win their fifth successive home game in all competitions as they endeavour to take control of their playoff tie with Slovan Bratislava.
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Slovan Bratislava have also enjoyed a strong start to the new season having won seven and drawn two of their opening nine matches in all competitions, scoring 21 goals in the process.
The reigning Slovak First Football League champions have navigated their way past Struga, Celje and APOEL to reach the Champions League playoff round, beating the latter 2-0 on aggregate in the third qualifying round last week.
An own goal followed by a stoppage-time strike from Robert Mak secured a 2-0 first-leg home win for Slovan Bratislava, before they played out a goalless stalemate in the reverse fixture in Cyprus last Tuesday.
Vladimir Weiss's men have since continued their perfect start on the domestic front, beating FC Kosice 2-1 on Saturday, courtesy of a 90th-minute winner from Tigran Barseghyan, to remain top of the Slovak First Football League after three games.
Slovan Bratislava are now bidding to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since reaching the second round back in 1992-93 when the competition was rebranded from the European Cup to its current name.
FC Midtjylland Champions League form:
FC Midtjylland form (all competitions):
Slovan Bratislava Champions League form:
Slovan Bratislava form (all competitions):
Team News
FCM
Midtjylland are still having to cope without the services of midfielder Kristoffer Olsson, who was diagnosed with several small blood clots in the brain due to a rare blood-vessel inflammation earlier this year.
Paulinho, Cho Gue-sung and Marrony are all sidelined with knee injuries, while Victor Bak and Christian Sorensen are both doubtful with unspecified issues; the former has missed the last six games, while the latter was forced off midway through the first half against Lyngby.
Oliver Sorensen and new signing Adam Buska have scored 7 goals between them so far this season and after being rested last weekend, they are both expected to start on Wednesday.
SLOVAN
As for Slovan Bratislava, they will be without Lukas Pauschek and Adler as they continue to recover from respective shoulder and shin injuries.
Weiss is set to recall his son and namesake Vladimir Weiss, who could join Robert Mak and David Strelec - who have scored 9 goals between them so far this term season - in a three-man attack, meaning that Barseghyan may drop down to the substitutes' bench.
FC Midtjylland possible starting lineup 442:
16 Olafsson;
6 Andersson, 4 Diao, 22 Bech Sorensen (k), 73 Juninho;
11 Osorio, 5 Martinez (k), 21 Castillo, 24 Oliver Sorensen;
7 Franculino Djù, 18 Buksa
Slovan Bratislava possible starting lineup 433:
71 Takac;
28 Blackman, 4 Kashia, 6 Wimmer, 23 Sharani Zuberu;
10 Tolic 12 Bajric 33 Kucka;
21 Mak / 11 Barseghyan 13 Strelec 7 Weiss (c)
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Key stats
- Midtjylland are yet to concede a goal at home this season
- the Danish side have lost just 1 of their previous 14 home games
- Midtjylland have won 6 of their last 8 games in all competitions
- Slovan Bratislava have just 1 win from their last 5 European away games
- Midtjylland have three 2-0 wins in their last 5 outings
- Slovan Bratislava are unbeaten across all competitions
- A first-ever meeting – competitive or friendly –
RESULTS
- Midtjylland (Wolves) look good before their upcoming match, in which they seek to remain unbeaten. In their last 3 matches, they first beat Vejle by 2-0, before drawing 1-1 with Ferencvaros. They were back as winners last time out, when they took out Lyngby 1-2
- In their 3 most recent outings, Slovan Bratislava won 5-0 and 2-0 against Celje and APOEL Nicosia, before drawing 0-0 against APOEL Nicosia.
FACTS
Slovan Bratislava have never reached the group stages of the Champions League in its current incarnation and they look vulnerable when they visit Midtjylland in the first leg of this play-off.
The Danish side got the better of a very solid Ferencvaros in the last round of qualifying and have a solid home record in Europe, winning six of their last nine in continental competition on home soil.
The Wolves have reached the knockout stages of a European competition in two of the last three seasons and contested the Champions League group stages against Atalanta, Ajax and Liverpool the campaign before.
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UEFA FACTS- While the home side's sole group appearance came four years ago, Slovan have never made it as far as the competition proper – although they have been regular participants in qualifying.
- Midtjylland have won three of their four games to date in the 2024/25 Champions League while Slovan have played six matches, recording four victories.
- This is the first meeting between the clubs. The return is in Bratislava on 28 August
- This is 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 UEFA Europa League qualifying play-offs (W1 L5) and one UEFA 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 Danish side are unbeaten in five home European games, winning four; a 4-0 loss by Sporting CP in the 2022/23 Europa League knockout play-offs is their only reverse in their last nine home matches (W6 D2).
- Midtjylland claimed their fourth Danish league title in 2023/24, all in the last ten seasons.
- Record vs Danish clubs: W2 D2 L4 F8 A12
- Away record vs Danish clubs: W0 D2 L2
- Slovan's last visit to Denmark ended in a 2-0 defeat at Copenhagen on Matchday 6 of the 2021/22 Europa Conference League, a result that ended their hopes of further progress.
- That made it four successive defeats against Danish clubs 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 Europa League second qualifying round; those four matches 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 lost four of their eight away European matches in 2023/24, winning the others; they are unbeaten in their three away games in qualifying this season (W1 D2).
- The Sky Blues claimed their 30th league title overall in 2023/24, finishing 15 points clear in the Slovakian top flight.
- Slovan midfielder Alen Mustafić made ten league appearances for Danish side OB between January 2023 and January 2024.
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