FC Midtjylland welcome Slovan Bratislava to MCH Arena for the first leg of their Champions League playoff tie on Wednesday night.
The winners of this two-legged tie will qualify for the newly-expanded 36-team Champions League, while the losers will drop down into the Europa League.
Match preview
![Thomas Thomasberg of FC Midtjylland during a 3F Superliga match against Aarhus GF at Ceres Park Aarhus Ceres Park Denmark, July 19 [on July 21]](https://sm.imgix.net/24/29/thomas-thomasberg_1.jpg?w=640&h=480&auto=compress,format&fit=clip "Thomas Thomasberg of FC Midtjylland during a 3F Superliga match against Aarhus GF at Ceres Park Aarhus Ceres Park Denmark, July 19 [on July 21]")
© Imago
After missing out on qualifying for European competition altogether last season, Midtjylland are vying to progress to the Champions League proper for just the second time in their history after competing in the 2020-21 group stage.
Last season's Danish SuperLiga champions cruised to a 4-0 aggregate win over UE Santa Coloma in the Champions League second qualifying round at the end of last month, before edging past Ferencvaros over two legs last week.
Goals from Adam Buksa and Franculino Dju sealed a 2-0 first-leg win on home soil, before Oliver Sorensen cancelled out Ibrahim Cisse's early opener to rescue a 1-1 second-leg draw in Hungary last Tuesday and advance 3-1 on aggregate.
Thomas Thomasberg's side have since extended their impressive unbeaten run across all competitions to nine matches, winning five of their last six including a 2-1 away victory over Lyngby in the Danish Superliga.
Sitting third in the top flight after five matches and just one point behind leaders Silkeborg, Midtjylland will now shift their attention back to the Champions League, aiming to win their fifth successive home game in all competitions as they endeavour to take control of their playoff tie with Slovan Bratislava.
© Imago
Slovan Bratislava have also enjoyed a strong start to the new season having won seven and drawn two of their opening nine matches in all competitions, scoring 21 goals in the process.
The reigning Slovak First Football League champions have navigated their way past Struga, Celje and APOEL to reach the Champions League playoff round, beating the latter 2-0 on aggregate in the third qualifying round last week.
An own goal followed by a stoppage-time strike from Robert Mak secured a 2-0 first-leg home win for Slovan Bratislava, before they played out a goalless stalemate in the reverse fixture in Cyprus last Tuesday.
Vladimir Weiss's men have since continued their perfect start on the domestic front, beating FC Kosice 2-1 on Saturday, courtesy of a 90th-minute winner from Tigran Barseghyan, to remain top of the Slovak First Football League after three games.
Slovan Bratislava are now bidding to qualify for the Champions League for the first time since reaching the second round back in 1992-93 when the competition was rebranded from the European Cup to its current name.
Team News
![Kristoffer Askildsen, Franculino and Aral Simsir of FC Midtjylland during a 3F Superliga match against Aarhus GF at Ceres Park Aarhus Ceres Park Denmark, July 19 [on July 21, 2024]](https://sm.imgix.net/24/29/kristoffer-askildsen-franculino-and-aral-simsir.jpg?w=640&h=480&auto=compress,format&fit=clip "Kristoffer Askildsen, Franculino and Aral Simsir of FC Midtjylland during a 3F Superliga match against Aarhus GF at Ceres Park Aarhus Ceres Park Denmark, July 19 [on July 21, 2024]")
© Imago
Midtjylland are still having to cope without the services of midfielder Kristoffer Olsson, who was diagnosed with several small blood clots in the brain due to a rare blood-vessel inflammation earlier this year.
Paulinho, Cho Gue-sung and Marrony are all sidelined with knee injuries, while Victor Bak and Christian Sorensen are both doubtful with unspecified issues; the former has missed the last six games, while the latter was forced off midway through the first half against Lyngby.
Oliver Sorensen and new signing Adam Buska have scored seven goals between them so far this season and after being rested last weekend, they are both expected to start on Wednesday.
As for Slovan Bratislava, they will be without Lukas Pauschek and Adler as they continue to recover from respective shoulder and shin injuries.
Weiss is set to recall his son and namesake Vladimir Weiss, who could join Robert Mak and David Strelec - who have scored nine goals between them so far this term season - in a three-man attack, meaning that Barseghyan may drop down to the substitutes' bench.
FC Midtjylland possible starting lineup:
Olafsson; Andersson, Diao, Bech Sorensen, Juninho; Osorio, Martinez, Castillo, O. Sorensen; Dju, Buksa
Slovan Bratislava possible starting lineup:
Takac; Blackman, Kashia, Wimmer, Sharani; Kucka, Bajric, Tolic; Weiss, Strelec, Mak
We say: FC Midtjylland 2-2 Slovan Bratislava
Both teams have looked strong in the opening stages of the new season, both domestically and in Europe, but as there is little to separate these two in-form teams, we can see the spoils being shared in an entertaining score draw, keeping the tie nicely poised ahead of next week's second leg in Slovakia.
For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.
