Celtic vs Slovan Bratislava

Celtic have won their first match of a UEFA Champions League campaign for the very first time, in what is their 13th attempt in the competition.

Slovan Bratislava were the ninth debuting UEFA Champions League side to concede 5+ goals in their first match in the competition proper, after Feyenoord, Maccabi Haifa, Levski Sofia, Zürich, Sporting Braga, Rostov, Qarabag, and Royal Antwerp.

Celtic scored five goals in a single European Cup/UEFA Champions League match for the first time since September 1977 against Jeunesse Esch (6-1). Meanwhile, they had five different scorers in a European Cup/Champions League match (excl. own goals) for the first time since September 1973 against TPS Turku (Dixie Deans, George Connelly, Harry Hood, James Johnstone, Thomas Callaghan).

Celtic and Slovan Bratislava have faced on two previous occasions, with both of those meetings coming in the quarter-final of the 1963-64 Cup Winners’ Cup. The Scottish side won both legs by a 1-0 scoreline, before being eliminated in the semi-final by MTK Budapest (3-4 on aggregate).

Slovan Bratislava’s last victory over a British side in major European competition was in September 1975, beating Derby County 1-0 in the first round of the European Cup (first leg). Since then, they have played nine such matches and failed to win all of them (D2 L7), including defeats in each of the last five.

This will be the 28th edition of the European Cup that Celtic have been involved in, with Manchester United (30) being the only British team to appear in more (Liverpool also on 28, as of 2024-25).

Slovan Bratislava have qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time, becoming just the fourth Slovakian side to play in the competition, after FC VSS Kosice in 1997/98, FC Petrzalka 1898 in 2005/06 and MSK Zilina in 2010/11 (all of whom went out at the group stage).

Celtic have never won their opening game of a UEFA Champions League campaign, drawing two and losing 10 of those. Indeed, they’ve not scored a goal in their opening match since 2006-07, in a 2-3 defeat away to Manchester United.