Slovan Bratislava given standing ovation after Champions League thrashing by Man City (2024)

“I am very happy. You have to do a job and that is what we did. We have great players. We had a lot of chances and played well. First victory in the competition this year. They played with some courage at the start but when they went 2-0 down they sat back. We were patient and attacked well.

“I am not thinking about goal difference. Maybe I am conservative but I am just thinking about winning games. We have three tough away games in this league phase.

“We know how good a player Ilkay [Gundogan] is, a strong mentality. He was not at his best against Newcastle, one of the worst I have probably seen from him in a long time. But he is such an intelligent player and he played really well tonight.

“Phil [Foden] is not at his best yet but he scored a fantastic goal. He had more chances but step-by-step he is getting there.

“We are all so happy with James [McAtee]. Everyone loves him. He moved really well in the small spaces and this will give him a good boost. We want to make him feel like he is part of the group and hopefully tonight helps with that.”

Phil Foden:

“I do not think it was easy. It was tough to break them down and we have to give them respect. The atmosphere was unbelievable. We got the job done in the end and we managed to find the spaces but it was difficult at times. It could have been more, especially as I had a few chances. On another night it could have been more goals but we are delighted with the 4-0 win. It has been a bit of a slow start to the season so it was nice to get on the scoresheet tonight. I am feeling ok and slowly getting back into it. We have worked really hard for it ever since we were kids.”

James McAtee:

“I was buzzing when I scored. I could have got another a few minutes later but I am over the moon. Of course you dream of this as a kid. It is good to be back after a few loan spells. It was a tough year last year and great to be learning off the best players in the world.”

RB Salzburg 0-4 Brest

Stuttgart 1-1 Sparta Prague

Arsenal 2-0 PSG

Barcelona 5-0 Young Boys

Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 AC Milan

Borussia Dortmund 7-1 Celtic

Inter Milan 4-0 Red Star Belgrade

PSV 1-1 Sporting

Slovan Bratislava 0-4 Manchester City

Possession: Slovan 24%-76% Manchester City

Attempts: 3-28

Attempts on target: 0-14

Corners: 0-15

Touches in the opposition box: 2-83

There will be two added minutes.

Savinho finds McAtee with a cross from the left but his header goes wide of the far post.

In north London Arsenal still lead PSG 2-0 with ten minutes to go. You can follow the live action here.

Meanwhile in Germany Celtic are being destroyed by Dortmund, who lead 7-1. Celtic won their opening match 5-1 against Slovan.

Double change for Manchester City:

OFF Gvardiol, Foden

ON Walker, Grealish

Slovan making a double change of their own:

OFF Weiss, Ihnatenko

ON Zuberu, Szoke

Plenty of emotion for Weiss as he comes off against his former club.

Double change for Manchester City:

OFF Haaland, Akanji

ON McAtee, Dias

Savinho sends in a dangerous cross from the left and Slovan just about clear their lines. They then clear and counter. The ball ends up with Strelec, who drags his shot well wide when he may have been better served trying to find a teammate.

VAR did check to see if there was a penalty for Manchester City but nothing given.

Manchester City have launched 35 attacks on the Slovan goal in the first half. Their hosts in Bratislava have managed just one, which came in thesecondminute of the contest.

It has been the mismatch we feared it would be before kick off and City are basicallyenjoying some shooting practice on their trip to eastern Europe. They have been pretty wayward in the main, but have hit the woodwork three times and Erling Haaland, who looks annoyed at his failure to get on the scoresheet so far tonight, was denied by the goalkeeper.

Here are the half-time scores in the Champions League this evening:

Arsenal 2-0 PSG

Barcelona 3-0 Young Boys

Leverkusen 0-0 AC Milan

Borussia Dortmund 5-1 Celtic

Inter Milan 1-0 Red Star

PSV 1-0 Sporting

Slovan Bratislava 0-2 Manchester City

Savinho tries to find Haaland with a cross but Takac sticks out a leg to clear. It only goes as far as the edge of the box, where Foden drags his shot wide.

Moments later Manchester City hit the frame of the goal for the third time. Gundogan has acres of space just outside the box and takes the shot on. His effort strikes the bar and Manchester City will be wondering how they are not more than two goals ahead. It feels like a matter of time until they add a third, and probably a fourth, fifth and sixth.

The stats make for grim reading if you are a Slovan fan. They have had just 18% possession, with zero shots on target and just one touch inside the Manchester City box. It is not a surprise that Manchester City are dominating but Slovan have been pretty terrible.

Foden has the latest chance for Manchester City from outside the box but he drags his effort just wide.

As well as the huge gap in terms of the quality of the players, one of Slovan’s main issues is they cannot keep hold of the ball for no more than a few seconds, which means they are having to do a lot of running off the ball which will in the long-run cause fatigue later in the game.

Another chance comes for the visitors and Doku continues to cause the home side problems. He goes past Bajric and fires a cross across the box but cannot find Haaland. Perhaps Doku should have played a softer ball across than smashing it.

There is a man on a platform with a microphone leading the songs and chants of the home fans and they didn’t stop for a breath evenas Ilkay Gundogan gave Man City the lead with a deflected voilley.

Slovan actually had the first chance of the evening, breaking quickly when a City corner was cleared, but they have struggled to get out of their own half since.

It already looks like it is going to be a long night for the Slovakian champions who progressed throughfour qualifying rounds to get to the group stage of this newly expanded Champions League group stage.

Only a minute on the clock and Doku wins Manchester City the first corner of the night. Gundogan sends in an outswinger but Slovan clear at the near post.

Slovan then break and former Manchester City man Weiss finds Tolic on the right-hand side of the box. He fires a shot across Ortega’s goal and narrowly misses the far corner.

Manchester City: Ortega, Lewis, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol, Nunes, Gundogan, Savinho, Foden, Doku, Haaland.

Substitutes: McAtee, Bernardo Silva, Grealish, Kovacic, Dias, Walker, Carson, Ederson.

Slovan Bratislava: Takac, Blackman, Kashia, Bajric, Wimmer, Savvidis, Ignatenko, Barseghyan, Tolic, Weiss, Strelec.

Substitutes: Trnovsky, Hrdina, Voet, Medvedev, Marcelli, Mustafic, Mak, Zuberu, Pauschek, Gajdos, Szoke, Metsoko.

Pep Guardiola expressed his concern at last night’s press conference that there was a pre-season friendly vibe about this game as he was asked about being compared to the famous Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi by Slovan Bratislava manager Vladimir Weiss.

Guardiola does not generally do joviality in his media duties and after several questions about what he thought of the comparison, the City manager was keen to remind everyone that this is a Champions League tie.

Slovan, though, seem determined to approach it like a lower league side in an FA Cup tie, with talk of this being a “fairytale” and the game as won they need to “survive” with their dignity intact. There are a huge number of City shirts in the crowd with the locals embracing the visit of the former European champions with relish.

The stadium music choice is Rock heavy to get them in the mood but it is a long way from an intimidating atmosphere at the moment. You could say, it is more like a friendly game… just don’t tell Pep - who has named a very strong side - I said that.

Manchester City kick off against Slovan Bratislava in just under half an hour. There are six other games kicking off at 8pm (BST) and two games have just concluded:

RB Salzburg 0-4 Brest (FT)

Stuttgart 1-1 Sparta Prague (FT)

Arsenal vs PSG

Barcelona vs Young Boys

Leverkusen vs AC Milan

Dortmund vs Celtic

Inter Milan vs Red Star

PSV vs Sporting

“That nothing is for granted. Even the media is going to say how beautiful we are - always we have to do it. Nothing comes from that. Always I have an incredible, incredible opinion of my opponents, my colleagues.

“It’s a team that plays with some courage. I saw the game against Glasgow and in certain moments they are not scared to play. They link really well with the strikers. I have huge respect for all the teams especially when we play away. I will try to analyse what they do, the patterns they do, and play our game.

“We accept it [being heavy favourites]. It is not a big deal. We start 0-0 the same, 11 against 11 and in the same conditions. We have to prove we are better. The rest I am not concerned much with to be honest.”

Pep Guardiola makes six changes to his starting XI from their 1-1 draw against Newcastle on Saturday. Stefan Ortega, John Stones, Matheus Nunes, Savinho, Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku all come in. Erling Haaland is fit enough to start despite picking up a knock.

Manchester City: Ortega, Lewis, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol, Nunes, Gundogan, Savinho, Foden, Doku, Haaland.

Substitutes: McAtee, Bernardo Silva, Grealish, Kovacic, Dias, Walker, Carson, Ederson.

Former Manchester City player Vladimir Weiss starts as does former Tottenham defender Kevin Wimmer.

Slovan Bratislava: Takac, Blackman, Kashia, Bajric, Wimmer, Savvidis, Ignatenko, Barseghyan, Tolic, Weiss, Strelec.

Substitutes: Trnovsky, Hrdina, Voet, Medvedev, Marcelli, Mustafic, Mak, Zuberu, Pauschek, Gajdos, Szoke, Metsoko.

RB Salzburg 0-1 Brest (HT)

Stuttgart 1-1 Sparta Prague (HT)

Arsenal vs PSG

Barcelona vs Young Boys

Leverkusen vs AC Milan

Dortmund vs Celtic

Inter Milan vs Red Star

PSV vs Sporting

Founded- 1919, changed their name to Slovan Bratislava in 1953 having previously been named I. CSSK Bratislava

Stadium- Tehelne pole

Capacity- 22,500

Manager- Vladimir Weiss

Won the Slovak First Football League last season, most successful team in Slovakia

First time ever in the Champions League

Won the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1968-69

Currently top of the Slovak Super Liga with 21 points, one point clear of MSK Zilina after seven wins and one loss in first eight games

They beat Michalovce 4-2 on Friday

It was meant as a compliment, but hearing an opposition manager describe Pep Guardiola as a genius, while comparing him to the famous Catalan architect Antonio Gaudi for the way he has reimagined and redesigned football, you get the impression this is a game Slovan Bratislava do not believe they can win.

Vladimir Weiss may be the manager of Slovakia’s most successful club, who won the European Cup Winners Cup back in 1969, but he admitted their main aim when they take on the champions of England will be “to survive” with their “dignity” intact.

“We’re going to play one of the best teams in the world,” said Weiss, whose son, of the same name, started his career in the Manchester City youth team and is now captain of Slovan at the age of 34.

“Pep Guardiola is one of the best coaches in the world and has been building his team for several years. We’re really excited.

“Our main objective is to survive. This is like a fairytale, but when we wake up in the morning it is the reality. We must not only play to enjoy it, we must also be dignified opposition.”

Slovan Bratislava had to progress through four qualifying rounds to make the main draw, a campaign that began on July 10 against Macedonia’s Struga, before they went on to knock out Slovenia’s Celje, Cyprus’ APOEL and Denmark’s FC Midtjylland, each over two legs.

In their first Champions League game, Slovan were thrashed 5-1 by Scottish champions Celtic and, in the pre-match build up, this has the feel of a cup tie against lower-league opposition rather than Champions League peers.

For the critics of this newly expanded and bloated group stage, this is precisely the sort of mismatch they will highlight, even if it is actually the fourth time a Slovakian team has qualified for the Champions League (although Slovan are the first for 14 years).

Asked about being compared to one of Catalonia’s most famous sons, Guardiola smiled and asked “if he (Weiss) had a glass of wine”, but said he took [the compliment] “extremely well”.

Yet, some of it did not sit well with a manager who did not like the undertone of complacency creeping in. “I want to say something honest,” he added. “With the start of this press conference [it seems like] we are going to play a friendly game. I’m a little bit concerned about that in terms of the questions about Gaudi... it’s a competition.

“Nothing is taken for granted, even when the media [and opposition] say how beautiful we are. Nothing comes from that.”