Football
Celtic vs Slovan Bratislava Team News and Predicted Line-Ups Ahead Of Champions League Showdown
Cai is a news and features writer that specialises in football, but has experience covering a variety of other sports, including darts, basketball, American football, MMA, boxing and more. He holds a degree in Football Journalism (BA Hons) from the University of Derby, and worked with Nottingham Forest FC and Burton Albion FC throughout his studies. Cai also has experience working in social media with the Football Association of Wales, where he worked on a freelance basis, and has also been an accredited writer in the JD Cymru Premier for both Y Clwb Pêl-Droed and welshfootie since the 2019/20 season.
Get to know Cai Parry betterPublished18 Sep 2024
Scottish giants Celtic welcome Slovakian champions Slovan Bratislava to Parkhead in their Champions League league phase opener on Wednesday, and we’ve got the latest in terms of team news and predicted line-ups.
1969 European Cup Winners’ Cup champions Slovan Bratislava head to Celtic Park on Wednesday evening, where they’ll make their UEFA Champions League debut when they take on Scottish champions Celtic.
Slovan, who like Celtic, have dominated their domestic league in recent seasons, winning each of the last six Fortuna Liga titles, and secured qualification to Europe’s premier competition for the first time in their history thanks to qualifying round victories over Struga, Celje, APOEL and Midtjylland.
The Bhoys meanwhile, managed by Brendan Rodgers, ensured their position in this year’s maiden league phase by winning the Scottish Premiership for a third successive season, their 12th title across the last 13 seasons.
🟢⚪ #UCL Matchday 1 is here!#CelticSlovan | #CelticFC🍀 pic.twitter.com/D5R5PyKMjo
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) September 18, 2024
Celtic’s form heading into this one is nothing short of perfect. Victory over Hearts at the weekend means that Rodgers’ men have won all six of their competitive outings so far this term, keeping clean sheets in each of their first five Scottish Premiership matches.
Similarly, Slovan have started well this term, winning five of their six league matches thus far. They did fall to a heavy 5-0 defeat at the hands of MSK Zilina prior to the international window though, but have since bounced back with wins over AC Nitra and DAC 1904.
Wednesday’s clash comes more than 60 years on from their last meeting, when Celtic recorded back-to-back 1-0 wins over their Slovakian opponents in the quarter-finals of the 1963/64 Cup Winners’ Cup, and leading football betting sites have the Bhoys as favourites to win again this time around, priced at around 2/9 to claim all three points.
Celtic vs Slovan Bratislava Team News
Celtic Team News
There is just one injury concern for the Bhoys heading into Wednesday night’s league phase opener in Glasgow, with Polish centre-back Mike Nawrocki unlikely to be involved due to a calf problem that has kept him out since pre-season.
This means that Liam Scales and Cameron Carter-Vickers, who have started alongside each other in all six of Celtic’s competitive matches thus far this term, are almost certain to be the hosts’ centre-back pairing at Parkhead.
Summer signing Arne Engels could be in line to make his second consecutive start in Rodgers’ midfield, having impressed against Hearts at the weekend, as he netted the first of two in a 2-0 win.
The front line is also likely to remain the same for Slovan’s visit, with all of Nicolas-Gerrit Kuhn, Kyogo Furuhashi and Daizen Maeda starting their last two matches, however Adam Idah, Luis Palma and James Forrest are also options.
Celtic Predicted Line-Up
Schmeichel; Johnston, Carter-Vickers, Scales, Taylor; Engels, McGregor, Hatate; Kuhn, Furuhashi, Maeda
Slovan Bratislava Team News
Wednesday’s visitors will be without just one member of their squad for the trip to Scotland, as centre-back Lukas Pauschek is ruled out after suffering a shoulder injury against Komarno at the end of July.
Despite starting just one league game thus far in 2024/25, Dominik Takac is expected to start in goal. The 25-year-old started six of his side’s eight matches across the Champions League qualifying rounds.
Former Tottenham Hotspur central defender Kevin Wimmer has also been tipped to start and is likely to be alongside Guram Kashia, who captained Georgia at the European Championship in the summer.
Notable ex-Slovakia internationals Juraj Kucka and Vladimir Weiss, the latter formerly of Rangers, are also likely to start, while Armenian winger Tigran Barseghyan is one to keep an eye on after his brace against DAC 1904 on Saturday.
Slovan Bratislava Predicted Line-Up
Takac; Blackman, Kashia, Wimmer, Zuberu; Bajric, Kucka; Barseghyan, Tolic, Weiss; Strelec