Girona vs Slovan Bratislava facts

Having lost an eventful Matchday 2 fixture on their home UEFA Champions League debut, Girona and fellow newcomers Slovan Bratislava are both looking for their first points as they meet in Spain.

The Liga side have conceded late on to lose both games, 1-0 at Paris Saint-Germain and 2-3 at home to Feyenoord. Slovan, meanwhile, shipped nine goals in defeats at Celtic (1-5) and at home to Manchester City (0-4), meaning both sides are among the eight still without a point in the league phase.

This is the clubs' first meeting, and Girona's first game against a team from Slovakia.

Form guide

Girona

Girona are the 14th Spanish side to feature in the Champions League proper – one short of Germany's competition record.

Indeed, this is the first time Girona have taken part in UEFA competition. Leipzig, in 2017, are the only previous club to have made their European debut in the Champions League proper, an honour Girona have shared with Brest this season.

Girona are one of five clubs to be making their Champions League debuts in 2024/25, along with Aston Villa, Bologna, Brest and Slovan.

Míchel guided Girona to third place in last season's La Liga table on 81 points, 14 behind champions Real Madrid and only four adrift of runners-up Barcelona.

That was also Los Blanquivermells' highest league placing in what was only their fourth season in the Spanish top flight; they finished tenth in both 2017/18 and 2022/23 and 18th in 2018/19, when they were relegated.

Slovan Bratislava

Record vs Spanish clubs: W1 D2 L4 F9 A12
Away record vs Spanish clubs: W0 D2 L1

This is Slovan's first game against a team from Spain since 2011, when they lost 2-1 both home and away to Athletic Club in the UEFA Europa League group stage.

The Slovakian side's most famous European game was their first against a team from Spain, a 3-2 victory against Barcelona in the 1968/69 European Cup Winners' Cup final in Basel.

They have lost four of their subsequent six games against Spanish teams, drawing the other two – both in Spain, where the defeat at Athletic was their first loss.

This is the first time Slovan have featured in the Champions League proper. Indeed, only three Slovakian clubs appeared in the group stage – Košice (1997/98), Petržalka (2005/06) and Žilina (2010/11).

Although Slovan are in the competition proper for the first time, 2024/25 marked their 12th appearance in Champions League qualifying – and a sixth in succession.

Slovan came through four qualifying rounds to reach the league phase, beating Struga of North Macedonia in the first (4-2 h, 2-1 a), Slovenian side Celje in the second (1-1 a, 5-0 h) and APOEL of Cyprus in the third (2-0 h, 0-0 a).

That set up a play-off against Midtjylland, and after a 1-1 first-leg draw in Denmark, Slovan triumphed 3-2 in Bratislava thanks to goals in the final ten minutes from Marko Tolić (82) – his second of the game – and Tigran Barseghyan (86).

In 2023/24, the Bratislava side came through two Champions League rounds before losing to Maccabi Haifa in the third qualifying round (2-5 aggregate) to move into the Europa League qualifying play-offs, losing 7-4 on aggregate against Aris Limassol. That sent them into the Europa Conference League group stage, where they finished second in their section behind LOSC Lille, eventually losing to Sturm Graz in the knockout round play-offs (1-4 a, 0-1 h).

Slovan lost four of their eight away European matches in 2023/24, winning the others; they were unbeaten in their four away games in qualifying this season (W1 D3).

The Sky Blues claimed their 30th league title overall in 2023/24, finishing 15 points clear in the Slovakian top flight.

Links and trivia

David López played 90 minutes as Napoli won 2-0 away to Slovan on Matchday 2 of the 2014/15 Europa League.

Viktor Tsygankov and Danylo Ihnatenko are both Ukraine internationals.

Latest news

Girona

Girona have only three victories in their 12 games in all competitions this season (D3 L6). On Saturday they went down 0-1 at home to Real Sociedad.

A 2-1 home success against Athletic Club on 6 October ended a winless run of six matches (D2 L4).

Paulo Gazzaniga following his Matchday 2 penalty save against Feyenoord by saving three more spot kicks – one taken twice – against Athletic.

Yáser Asprilla (ankle), Bryan Gil and Jhon Solís (both muscle) all missed the weekend defeat.

Oriol Romeu (thigh) and Daley Blind (heel) have not played since suffering injuries in a 1-1 draw at Celta Vigo on 29 September.

Cristian Portu underwent surgery on his right ankle on 14 October and is expected to be out for a month.

Viktor Tsygankov came off in the first half against Feyenoord with a hamstring injury that is set to rule him out for five weeks.

Jastin García injured his shoulder on 31 July in a pre-season friendly against Toulouse and has not played since.

Slovan

Slovan have won eight of their ten league games in 2024/25 (D1 L1), including Saturday's 1-0 victory at Spartak Trnava.

Tigran Barseghyan got the only goal, making it eight in ten league appearances this season.

A 0-5 loss at home to Žilina on 1 September ended Slovan's unbeaten start to the season in all competitions (W9 D3).

Slovan have lost just three times in 22 games in all competitions this season, but conceded 14 goals in those defeats.

Juraj Kucka has been out since Matchday 1.

David Strelec scored twice in Slovakia's 2-2 UEFA Nations League draw at home to Sweden on 11 October.