Slovan Bratislava host Stuttgart in the Champions League group phase on Tuesday, still hoping to secure their first points in Europe this season.
With the home side already eliminated from the competition, they have nothing but pride to play for against Die Roten, who sit 26th in the standings, but remain in the mix to qualify for the next round.
Match preview
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After beginning their Champions League campaign with a 5-1 defeat away to Celtic, things have only gone downhill since then for the hosts.
They have been outscored by 21 goals to five, as they have lost every game out of the six that they have played in the group phase prior to this contest.
After being paired with the likes of Manchester City, AC Milan and Atletico Madrid, among other top European clubs, it was always going to take something special for the Slovakian champions to compete against the big boys in Europe.
They have performed admirably in some contests, only suffering narrow defeats against the likes of AC Milan and Girona, but other times they have been outclassed - with heavy defeats against City, Celtic and Dinamo Zagreb.
Having won their domestic title comfortably last season, the table is closer this year, with Slovan leading the way once again, although they sit just three points clear of MSK Zilina.
However, the hosts have won 14 of their opening 18 matches in the league, including a run of seven wins in their past nine games - with their most recent success coming against DAC Dunajska Streda back in December, before they paused for a winter break.
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Meanwhile, the visitors will be looking to improve on their away record in the competition this season, with the club losing two of their three matches in the competition so far.
Their sole win away from home in the Champions League was an impressive 1-0 win against Juventus, but they followed this up with a humbling 5-1 loss at Red Star Belgrade in November.
Having lost 5-1 in Belgrade, Stuttgart were on the right side of the same scoreline last time out in the Champions League, with an emphatic win against Young Boys back in December.
With two wins, a draw and three defeats so far from their six matches, the visitors have struggled for consistency on their return to the competition, having not featured in the Champions League since 2009-10.
They qualified for the tournament under the guidance of Sebastian Hoeness, who took from relegation survival in 2022-23 to a sensational second-place finish last season – albeit 17 points off champions Bayer Leverkusen.
This year they find themselves in the thick of the race for Champions League qualification once again, as they are fourth after 18 games in the Bundesliga.
They come into this game in fine form, having won seven of their last eight matches in all competitions following their resounding 4-0 success against Freiburg on Saturday.
With the visitors playing so well, they will hope that they can work their way into a playoff position in the Champions League by claiming victory in the Slovakian capital on Tuesday evening.
Team News
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Slovan will be missing Juraj Kucka, who underwent knee surgery earlier this month and is expected to be out for at least two months.
In better news for the hosts, Matus Vojtko is in contention to play again following a recent spell on the sidelines with a shin injury.
Meanwhile, the visitors have several injury concerns ahead of this fixture, with Luca Raimund out with a thigh injury, while Justin Diehl has a hamstring issue and El Bilal Toure is sidelined due to a broken metatarsal.
Elsewhere, Dan-Axel Zagadou (knee) remains a long-term absentee, while Maximilian Mittelstadt is a doubt due to muscular problems.
Slovan Bratislava possible starting lineup:
Takac; Voet, Kashia, Bajric, Medvedev; Savvidis, Kucka, Blackman; Barseghyan, Strelec, Mak
Stuttgart possible starting lineup:
Nuebel; Vagnoman, Rouault, Chabot, Stergiou; Karazor, Stiller, Rieder, Millot, Fuehrich; Demirovic
We say: Slovan Bratislava 0-3 Stuttgart
The hosts have not got anything to play for, having already been eliminated from the competition.
While they would love to play spoiler against Stuttgart, we expect the German side to be too good for them here in a comfortable away victory.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
Tom Humphrey
