Back
Steffen Schmidt - July 10, 2023
Slovan Bratislava vs Swift Hesperange
UEFA Champions League Qualification
Date: 12 July 2023, Wednesday
Kick-off at 19:30 UK / 20:30 CET
Venue: Stadion Tehelne pole (Bratislava).
Swift Hesperange wrote history last year by winning their inaugural trophy in Luxembourg’s top flight.
The team that played second class of Luxemburg’s football all up until the 2019/20 campaign shockingly won the title last season and will now have the honor to represent their country in the UEFA Champions League qualifications for the first time ever this summer.
Swift will be enormous underdogs there, though, as the draw gave them one of the toughest rivals in the likes of Slovakian champions Slovan Bratislava.
Slovan have played the group stages of European competitions in each of the last three years.
They had an extravagant campaign in Europe last year, going to penalties on three separate occasions in huge ties.
Slovan were eliminated from Europa League third qualifying round by Olmpiacos on penalties before going past Zrinjski Mostar in the Conference League playoffs, also on penalties.
After topping their respective Conference League group above Basel, Zalgiris, and Pyunik, Slovan were eliminated in the last 16 round of the competition by falling to Basel on penalties.
Vladimir Weiss’ men enter the new season with high ambitions. They have been fantastic in preseason exhibitions, easing past Universitatea Cluj, Olimpija, Wisla Plock, and Rapid Vienna in four consecutive wins.
The Slovaks have bagged at least two goals in each of these four victories. Knowing all the rivals they had faced possess more quality than Swift, we have reasons to expect a lot of goals in the visitors’ net on Wednesday.
Swift Hesperange have a limited European experience. They were eliminated by Slovenian Domzale at the start of their Conference League qualifying campaign last year (1-2 on aggregate).
Although we have seen a significant growth in the quality of football in Luxembourg’s elite class in recent years, Slovan should have too much for the rivals in this matchup. We expect the hosts to control the happenings on the pitch from the start to the end and we will back them to have the lead at the half time and win the game at the 1.72 odds.
[su_button url=”http://localhost/Projects/ll/champions-league/” style=”flat” background=”#009A17″ color=”#ffffff” size=”7″ wide=”yes” center=”yes” radius=”5″ icon=”icon: arrow-circle-right” icon_color=”#ffffff”]Read all Champions League Tips[/su_button]