Celje vs Slovan Bratislava Prediction (26.08.2026)

Celje is one step away from its greatest club achievement – qualifying for the group stage of the Champions League. The chances seem quite real after a 1:1 draw away in Bratislava. Two years ago, they faced Slovan again in the tournament qualifiers and lost 0:5 in Slovakia, but since then Celje has gained experience and played quite a few matches in the Conference League, and definitely is a better team now than back then. In the current qualifiers, they eliminated Egnatia on penalties and had two goal draws, and then knocked out Ararat.

Slovan Bratislava, on the other hand, will look to enter the group stage again. To do this, they will need to win away once more, as they did in the previous two rounds. In those, they won their away matches against Iberia and Mjallby. Slovan is also unbeaten in their nine matches across all competitions this season, but with their new coach Yaya Toure, Slovan has never won three consecutive away matches in Europe.

A potential draw is hardly excluded from the calculations of both teams, and in my opinion, we might see another one between them, but I also expect at least one goal from both sides.

This text is an AI-assisted translation in English. Link to the original source in Bulgarian ➔