Preview: Slovan Bratislava vs Strasbourg - prediction, team news, lineups

Meeting for the first time on the European stage, Slovan Bratislava will open the League phase of their Conference League campaign on Thursday by welcoming Strasbourg to Tehelne Pole.

Bratislava were relegated into this competition after losing their Europa League playoff with Young Boys 4-2 on aggregate, while the French side got here thanks to a 3-2 victory over Brondby.

Match preview

Making their fourth appearance in this competition, the Slovaks enter this opening game with a lot of confidence, given their recent form.

Vladimir Weiss has seen his side go unbeaten in their last five competitive fixtures, netting multiple goals each time while winning four of those matches.

The Slovakian giants are on a two-match winning run at home domestically but lost their previous match in Europe at Tehelne Pole versus Young Boys in a Europa League qualifier last month.

They have lost their last two encounters in this competition, and suffered two successive Conference League defeats at home by a single goal.

Never in the history of this tournament have they been beaten at home when scoring firstl, although they failed to do so in their previous appearance in 2023-24.

Thursday will mark the fourth time they face a French opponent in a European fixture, with Bieli failing to win any of those contests, but walking away with a pair of results in Bratislava.

After a strong run of form early into the new campaign Strasbourg were knocked down a peg last Friday, squandering a late advantage to Marseille in a 2-1 domestic defeat.

It was the first time all season that Liam Rosenior’s men failed to claim a point when scoring first at home, dropping them down to fifth in the Ligue 1 table.

The club from Alsace have made it a habit of scoring late goals to win domestically this season, but in leg two of their tie with Brondby, they netted twice in the opening half.

Strasbourg have won two of their three away matches this season across all competitions, scoring a combined eight goals over that stretch, five more than they have managed in four competitive home games so far.

In 2025, they have yet to lose a single competitive road match when scoring first, dropping points only once all year when doing so (1-1 at Marseille in January).

Le Racing have not lost consecutive competitive fixtures since the end of the previous Ligue 1 campaign, suffering defeats to Angers (2-1) and Le Havre (3-2) on their final two matchdays.

Slovan Bratislava form (all competitions):

Strasbourg Conference League form:

Strasbourg form (all competitions):

Team News

On Thursday, Andraz Sporar will seek his first appearance in Europe for Bratislava having joined in the summer transfer window, while Sidoine Chounkwi Fogning will hope to make his first start in Europe, with the Boavista loanee coming on as a substitute in their two Europa League qualifiers versus Young Boys.

Mykola Kukharevych is the joint top-goalscorer in the Slovakian First Football League this season with four strikes, netting once in an earlier Champions League qualifying affair for them.

On the Strasbourg side, Saidow Sow missed another match last week with a sore knee, Sebastian Nanasi was sidelined due to a shoulder issue, while Maxi Oyedele did not feature because of a muscle strain.

Despite an illness, Ben Chilwell played the full 90 against Marseille, though Abakar Sylla was sidelined with a knock, and Emanuel Emegha got hurt and had to go off in that encounter.

Emegha, the Strasbourg captain had a brace in their second-leg playoff triumph over Brondby, with Ismael Doukoure also netting in the narrow victory.

Slovan Bratislava possible starting lineup:

Takac; Blackman, Kashia, Fogning, Cruz; Tolic, Pokorny, Ihnatenkp; Weiss, Kukharevych, Mak

Strasbourg possible starting lineup:

Penders; Hogsberg, Sarr, Doukoure; Ouattara, Nzingoula, Amougou, Barco; Paez, Panichelli, Enciso

We say: Slovan Bratislava 0-1 Strasbourg

The Solvaks have been very unstable at the back in their own league, and the speed and transitional quality of Strasbourg should be able to exploit that and sneak a goal in on Thursday.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.