Will the Belasí be shot down in front of their home crowd?
Slovan Bratislava were already crushed by Celtic Glasgow (1:5) on the first matchday of the Champions League league phase. Accordingly, there is no alternative to betting on an away win for the Sky Blues against Manchester City, who, to make matters worse, have not been beaten in their last 11 Champions League away games (five wins, six draws).
The Belasí, on the other hand, are now facing their very first home game in the final round of the Champions League, but have won all six of their previous home games in the former European Champions League. However, their last victory dates back to a match against Derby County in September 1975, which is why this nice home record of the Slovaks has no influence on our Slovan Bratislava vs. Manchester City prediction.
The only question is how much mercy the Citizens will show. If they unleash their full joy of playing, it could be an extremely bitter Champions League home premiere for the Belasí. We think that the Sky Blues will be keen to make up for their meagre return of a point from their opening game, a 0-0 draw with Inter Milan, by going for a goal difference win.
We are therefore laying a very generous handicap of -3 on Manchester City. Alternatively, you could bet on there being over 3.5 goals in this game. Bwin is offering odds of 1.60 for this. Incidentally, new customers can currently get a €100 deposit bonus from this betting provider.
Slovan Bratislava – Statistics & current form
Slovan Bratislava have often tried to finally qualify for the UEFA Champions League finals. Now they have finally made it. The Belasí (in English: the sky blues) have even set two big exclamation marks.
While the wins in the qualifiers over Struga and Celje were to be expected, the subsequent victories over APOEL Nicosia and Midtjylland were quite impressive. All those involved were all the more disappointed to lose 5-1 to Celtic Glasgow on the first matchday of their premiere in the premier class.
Slovan Bratislava is set to make its Champions League home debut
Of course, the Scottish champions are no pushovers. Considering that they will face opponents such as AC Milan, Atlético Madrid, Bayern Munich and VfB Stuttgart after Manchester City, a point in this game would certainly have been good for their slim hopes of making it to the knockout stage.
At least on a domestic level, the national champions are doing quite well. They have already suffered a remarkable 5-0 defeat against their main pursuers MSK Zilina. However, because they have won all of their other seven matches in the first eight games, Vladimír Weiss’s men are currently still top of the Nike League with 21 points.
Slovan Bratislava is remarkably vulnerable defensively in the 2024/25 season
The Slovaks also passed the dress rehearsal at the weekend with a 4-2 away win at Michalovce, although they again conceded two goals despite being 20 minutes up against the penultimate team in the table. This is quite striking. With eleven goals conceded in eight league games in the Slovakian league, the Belasí’s defense is definitely vulnerable.
Meanwhile, only bottom-placed Dinamo Zagreb have conceded fewer goals in the top flight (nine). The odds for a possible home win against the Sky Blues at Slovan Bratislava against Manchester City are correspondingly high.
Manchester City – Statistics & current form
Manchester City naturally has the ambition to repeat the triple of the 2022/23 season at some point. With their incredibly renowned squad, the Sky Blues naturally also have the best chances of going for the trophy.
In the rematch of the 2023 final against Inter Milan, however, there was a small setback in the Champions League group stage. The 0-0 draw means that the Citizens are only in joint 16th place in the table, which is not really meaningful yet.
Will Manchester City do something for the goal difference?
While the old system still forgave point losses, since it often didn’t matter whether you were group winner or group runner-up, it is now a matter of saving a complete round by finishing in the top eight. For English teams with the double cup burden, this is of course extremely desirable.
Accordingly, our betting tip for the game between Slovan Bratislava and Manchester City is a hot one, with a clear victory for the Sky Blues, who could potentially do a lot in this away game for their goal difference, which could be crucial in the end.
Will Erling Haaland start for Manchester City?
Pep Guardiola’s team could also break a long-standing record in the process. Between 2007 and 2009, Manchester United went 25 Champions League games unbeaten. The Sky Blues are currently on a run of 24 games (16 wins, eight draws).
With that in mind, we don’t expect Erling Haaland to be rested after the poor performance at Newcastle United at the weekend (1-1). If the Norwegian was in the Citizens’ starting lineup in the Champions League, they have not lost a single one of the 21 games in the premier class (14 wins, seven draws). Incidentally, that is also a current record in the competition.
Slovan Bratislava – Manchester City Head to head / H2H record
This will be the first time the two teams have met in a European competition. It is also the Sky Blues’ first-ever match against a Slovakian representative. Slovan Bratislava, on the other hand, have played a few games against English clubs, but have only won two of the last twelve (two draws, eight defeats). They have lost five in a row.
Slovan Bratislava – Manchester City Tip
Ultimately, there is no alternative to the prediction of an away win for the Sky Blues against Slovan Bratislava. Even with a B-team, the Citizens have the potential to completely wipe the floor with the Belasí. The Slovaks have a combined total market value of the squad of less than 30 million euros. On matchday 1, coach Vladimír Weiss also fielded the oldest starting XI of all 36 teams in the Champions League group stage, with an average age of 30 years and 115 days.
Accordingly, it can be assumed that the Belasí will now experience a similar debacle to that of Celtic Glasgow (1:5). We therefore recommend betting on Manchester City beating the Slovaks by at least four goals.
The odds for the -4 on the Sky Blues against Manchester City are 2.30 at Slovan Bratislava, which we are offering at Bet-at-home with three units.
