Slovakian club Slovan Bratislava will play host to Bosnian outfit Zrinjski Mostar in Tuesday's clash in the second round of Champions League qualifying.

The home side are entering the competition at this stage, while Zrinjski successfully navigated through the first qualifying round. 

Match preview

Slovan are back competing in the Champions League after winning their seventh successive Slovak First Football League title last term.

The Sky Blues enjoyed success in last season's qualifying rounds, where they negotiated ties against Struga, Celje, APOEL and Midtjylland to secure their place in the main draw.

While they went on to lose all eight games in the league phase, Slovan would have still cherished the opportunity to go toe-to-toe with the likes of Bayern Munich, Manchester City, AC Milan and Atletico Madrid. 

If they are to make another main draw appearance, Slovan will have to improve their level from an underwhelming set of results in pre-season, which saw them record two victories, one draw and three defeats in six friendlies.

Those results included back-to-back defeats against Wisla Krakow and Midtjylland earlier this month, although they did rack up the goals in an emphatic 17-1 victory over third-tier Raca at the weekend. 

Slovan will face a much tougher opponent on Tuesday, but they will be hoping to reproduce the goalscoring touch that they showed in last season's qualifying rounds, when they netted 14 goals across their four home legs. 

Zrinjski are participating in the Champions League preliminary rounds for the third time in four season after winning the Bosnian & Herzegovinian top-flight last season. 

They recorded 26 victories, four draws and three defeats in 33 matches to finish just a point clear of title rivals Borac Banja Luka.

After wrapping up their league campaign on May 30, Zrinjski got their 2025-26 season underway in the first leg of their Champions League qualifier against Virtus on July 8.

Mario Ivankovic's side produced a resolute display to pick up a 2-0 away victory against the champions of San Marino, before they backed up their first leg performance with a 2-1 win in last Tuesday's return fixture.

Incidentally, Zrinjski are now set to compete in the Champions League second qualifying round for the first time since they suffered a 3-2 loss against Slovan in 2022-23.

Their current focus will be on claiming a positive result in Tuesday's first leg, but that may be easier said than done, given the fact that they have lost seven of their previous nine away games in European competition (W2).

Slovan Bratislava pre-season form:

Zrinjski Mostar form (all competitions):

Team News

Slovan's matchday squad is expected to feature their five summer signings of Kelvin Ofori, Sandro Cruz, Peter Pokorny, Alasana Yirajang and Mykola Kukharevych. 

Guram Kashia and Kenan Bajric are likely to feature in central defence, while Cesar Blackman and Sandro Cruz are set to operate as the two full-backs.

At the opposite end of the pitch, David Strelec should be given the responsibility of leading the line after scoring 25 goals in 48 competitive appearances last term. 

As for the Bosnian champions, they are expected to be without defender Toni Sunjic and midfielder Marijan Cavar due to injury.

Mateo Susic and Tomislav Kis are pushing for recalls after featuring as half-time substitutes in last week's second leg against Virtus. 

After scoring three goals in the first qualifying round, Nemanja Bilbija will be looking to continue his positive start to the season when he leads the line in Tuesday's first leg. 

Slovan Bratislava possible starting lineup:

Takac; Blackman, Kashia, Bajric, Cruz; Savvidis, Pokorny; Barseghyan, Weiss, Mak; Strelec

Zrinjski Mostar possible starting lineup:

Karacic; Susic, Masic, Barisic, Mamic; Ivancic, Savic; Abramovic, Kis, Burey; Bilbija

We say: Slovan Bratislava 2-0 Zrinjski Mostar

Slovan have prevailed in each of their previous three European ties against Zrinjski, and with history on their side, we think that the Slovakian champions will make full use of home advantage to take a step towards the third qualifying round with a relatively comfortable victory.

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

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