Celtic will face Slovakian title winners Slovan Bratislava in the first of eight games in the new league phase of the revamped Champions League. Unfamiliar surroundings beckon for our first opponents.

iPhone 4. ‘Love the way you lie’ by Eminem topped the charts. David Cameron was Prime Minister. Pope Benedict XVI was visiting Glasgow. Celtic were on 42 league championships. That was the last time a Slovakian side had entered the Champions League.

Fast forward 14 years and we now have the iPhone 16 Pro Max. Sabrina Carpenter tops the charts. Keir Starmer makes it Prime Minister number five since Cameron. Pope Francis has yet to visit Glasgow. Oh, and Celtic have won just the 12 league championships since season 2010/2011.

This is unknown territory for Wednesday’s visitors as they embark on their debut in Europe’s top club competition. The last Slovakian side to qualify for the Champions League was MSK Zilinia in 2010/2011 who currently sit a point behind table-toppers Bratislava in the Slovak Super Lig. The only two other Slovakian teams to reach the top table of European football were Kosice in 1997/1998 and Petrzalka in 2005/2006. The latter no longer in the top flight.

Celtic’s opponents who will be coming to Parkhead with no fear have fared averagely in European competition this century. Most recently, they have languished in the Europa Conference League for three consecutive seasons. The rarity of qualification for European competition can be exemplified in that between 2010-2020 the Sky Blues only featured in the Europa League twice. On both occasions they fell short of qualifying for knockout football.

However, there has been a change of fortune for the Slovak champions in European football in contemporary times. Despite being thumped by Austrian title-holders Sturm Graz in the knockout play-off round last season, Bratislava finished 2nd in their group on an admirable 10 points which included French side Lille.

Although being projected by many as the worst rated side to reach this seasons much changed Champions League, the Hoops opponents should still be respected. Celtic only know too well themselves how difficult and mentally challenging Champions League qualifiers can be.

Slovan Bratislava kicked off their European exploits this season on 10 July. On the same day, Celtic played their second pre-season game against Queens Park. Our opponents negotiated four qualifiers, a gruelling eight games, culminating in a historic victory against Danish champions Midtylland which has taken them to the promised land for the first time in their club history.

The side from Slovakia’s capital even took the Celtic like approach in their final qualification match. Trailing 2-1 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate against Midtylland Slovan Bratislava were eight minutes of normal time away from heartbreak, until two late goals secured a transformational €40m cheque and glamour games against Man City, Bayern Munich, AC Milan and Celtic.

Celtic and Slovan Bratislava are indistinguishable in other ways. Both have been domestically unstoppable. The visitors have won the last six Slovak league championships with relative comfort. 16 points to be exact. Crucially though, they have not used their domestic dominance to elevate their European performances. This season might be their breakthrough and put to an end terminal underachievement on the continent. Sound familiar?

Managed by Vladimir Weiss snr, he has been a success story. It is now his fourth season in charge with the Slovak champions after he returned to the dugout for a second time in 2021. He had mediocre spells in Kazakhstan at Kairat between 2012-2015 and then as national team coach of Georgia during the period of 2016-2020. Nevertheless, things seem to have clicked for the man adored by supporters.

His son, Vladimir Weiss jnr, instrumental in qualification for the Champions League, had a loan spell at theRangers during the 2010/2011 campaign where Celtic lost the league by one point. Weiss featured 35 times for the Ibrox club having been loaned from Manchester City. He may get a warm reception at Celtic Park on Wednesday evening!

Records on opening matchdays do not make for good reading for Celtic supporters. It is deplorable. Celtic have failed to score in their last eight Champions League opening group stage games. You would have to go back to September 2006 at Old Trafford, the last time Celtic scored a goal in their first game of the competitions group phase. More damning, Celtic have never won their first game of a Champions League campaign. Wednesday might be thirteen times lucky. A victory would also make it 19 wins from 79 in the Champions League since its inception in 1997.

A new format will hopefully mean changed ways for Celtic at the top table in Europe. Our opponents are new to these fixtures, for us it is the norm. It feels like Celtic’s best chance to make a transformational dent on the Champions League this season. For Slovan Bratislava it is their inaugural fixture. Let’s hope it will be a night to forget for the Slovakian title-holders.

Conor Spence

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