Slovan Bratislava take on the visitors Hesperange in the first leg of 1/8-finals in UEFA Champions League qualification playoffs. The match will be played on Wednesday, June 12th at Tehelné pole (Bratislava),
Slovan are one of the most decorated clubs in Slovakia and the reigning national champion. In the previous season, the "Sky Blues" surpassed Dunajská Streda by two points in the title race. Slovan is the only club from former Czechoslovakia to have won a European trophy, specifically the 1969 UEFA Cup Winners' Cup. In the past season, Slovan had a successful run on the international stage, reaching the group stage of the Conference League and even advancing to the Round of 16. Their fate in the quarterfinals was decided in a penalty shootout against Basel. During the preseason, under the guidance of Vladimir Weiss, Slovan won all four friendly matches, defeating Universitatea Cluj (Romania) 3-0, Rapid (Romania) 4-1, Domžale (Slovenia) 2-1, and Płock (Poland) 2-0.
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Swift Hesperange unexpectedly won the Luxembourg championship for the first time in their history in the previous season, ending Dudelange's long-standing dominance. Esperanza has only participated in European cup qualifiers twice. Their debut in European competitions took place in the 1990/91 season, where they were eliminated in the first qualifying round of the Cup Winners' Cup by Polish side Legia. Their second attempt occurred in the 2021/22 season, but they faced a setback in the qualifying round of the Conference League against Domžale from Slovenia. The Luxembourg season has not started yet, and it seems that Esperanza did not play any matches during the preseason, making it difficult to assess their current form.
Considering Slovan's success in the previous European campaign, there are no doubts about their favoritism against the Luxembourg team. However, I would like to focus on the overall goal-scoring potential of the match. Slovan generally adopts an attacking style, as evidenced by their friendly matches prior to the season. In the previous Slovak league season, the "Sky Blues" scored 69 goals in 32 games, and they also had several exciting and high-scoring matches in the Conference League. Esperanza is also a team that prefers an attacking approach, although, like any other Luxembourg representative, their defensive reliability may not be sufficient. In any case, I believe that both teams will provide spectators with a significant number of goals, and there is also the possibility that the home team alone will surpass the standard total. My prediction is over 2.5 goals.
Prediction for the match: Over 2.5 scored goals.
