Slovan Bratislava given standing ovation after Champions League thrashing by Man City

If this was a fairy tale for Slovan Bratislava, a once-in-a-lifetime chance to face one of the giants of European football in the Champions League, they forgot to bring an axe with them to try to fell Manchester City.

City are no strangers to cruising through the early stages of this competition. They made it look easy in the old four-team group format too, but this was utterly predictable. Dare we say it, it was even a little dull.

Not for Slovan, they were determined to enjoy the occasion. The Slovakian champions were happy to be here, content to be taking part. Their fans treated the thrashing like a party and gave their team a standing ovation at the end.

But that was all this was, taking part. They were on the same pitch as City, but they barely touched them let alone landed a telling blow. Stefan Ortega did not have to make a single save.

The result was decided inside the first quarter of an hour, as City took a two-goal lead, thanks to Ilkay Gundogan and Phil Foden, that allowed them to stroll through the rest of the game.

They still scored two more in the second half through Erling Haaland – his 42nd in the Champions League in his 41st appearance, overtaking Sergio Aguero in City’s all-time European list and substitute James McAtee.

As European away games go, they will struggle to find a more straightforward one. It carried all the risk of easing yourself into a warm bath.

We feared this was going to be a mismatch and it was. Slovan were willing competitors. They tried their best, their fans did not stop singing, but it never looked like it was going to be good enough.

The appeal of cup competitions – not that you can really call this bloated version of the Champions League that any more – is the idea that the little guys can give the big boys a bloody nose.

But from the moment Slovan manager Vladimir Weiss talked about Pep Guardiola being a genius in his pre-match press conference, comparing the way he has reimagined and redesigned football to the famous Catalan architect Antoni Gaudi, the Slovakian champions did not seem to believe that was possible.

Weiss talked about “surviving” with their dignity intact. His team, despite showing a flicker of a threat in the opening seconds, when Marko Tolic dragged a shot wide at the end of a rapid counter-attack, were blown away like the flame of a candle in a gale.

“We did what we had to do, that’s it,” said Guardiola, matter of factly. “I love being manager of this football team. They get the job done.

“It was a little bit easier at the start, they were a little more open, but as soon as we went 2-0 up they sat back and defended with 10 players in the box, like 80 per cent of the teams against us.

“But we created a lot of chances, scored four goals, no injuries, we can rest up and go again on Saturday.”

City opened the scoring after eight minutes, Gundogan’s volley deflected into the net and made it two seven minutes later when Foden collected Jeremy Doku’s pass inside the area and stroked the ball into the bottom corner.

The home fans barely seemed to notice. The rest of the half became little more than shooting practice for City as Doku, Foden and Gundogan all hit the frame of the goal.

On the touchline, Guardiola paced and prowled in his technical area. Ever the perfectionist, he was not happy with the decision-making in the final third.

Complacency crept in. Or maybe it was just energy conservation after a gruelling run of games. Guardiola was not the only frustrated figure. Haaland missed a decent chance in the first half and put a header over the bar in the second but he was not going to miss out on a night like this, sprinting on to Rico Lewis’s through-ball, rounding the goalkeeper and rolling the ball into the net.

The Norwegian was withdrawn soon after, to rest up and get ready for Fulham on Saturday. It was that sort of evening, although everyone seemed pleased for McAtee when he scored his first City goal.

“That was adorable,” added Guardiola, who said he was looking forward to a glass of wine at the team hotel before flying back to Manchester on Wednesday morning.

“You could see everyone was so pleased for him and I hope the minutes he had here will give him that belief. We have so many games, we know we can count on him.”

10:23 PM BST

Special moment for McAtee

A first senior goal for James McAtee tonight:

10:22 PM BST

Pep Guardiola speaking to TNT

“I am very happy. You have to do a job and that is what we did. We have great players. We had a lot of chances and played well. First victory in the competition this year. They played with some courage at the start but when they went 2-0 down they sat back. We were patient and attacked well.

“I am not thinking about goal difference. Maybe I am conservative but I am just thinking about winning games. We have three tough away games in this league phase.

“We know how good a player Ilkay [Gundogan] is, a strong mentality. He was not at his best against Newcastle, one of the worst I have probably seen from him in a long time. But he is such an intelligent player and he played really well tonight.

“Phil [Foden] is not at his best yet but he scored a fantastic goal. He had more chances but step-by-step he is getting there.

“We are all so happy with James [McAtee]. Everyone loves him. He moved really well in the small spaces and this will give him a good boost. We want to make him feel like he is part of the group and hopefully tonight helps with that.”

10:10 PM BST

Foden and McAtee speaking to TNT

Phil Foden:

“I do not think it was easy. It was tough to break them down and we have to give them respect. The atmosphere was unbelievable. We got the job done in the end and we managed to find the spaces but it was difficult at times. It could have been more, especially as I had a few chances. On another night it could have been more goals but we are delighted with the 4-0 win. It has been a bit of a slow start to the season so it was nice to get on the scoresheet tonight. I am feeling ok and slowly getting back into it. We have worked really hard for it ever since we were kids.”

James McAtee:

“I was buzzing when I scored. I could have got another a few minutes later but I am over the moon. Of course you dream of this as a kid. It is good to be back after a few loan spells. It was a tough year last year and great to be learning off the best players in the world.”

10:01 PM BST

Hug from Guardiola for McAtee

09:59 PM BST

An 11th goal this season for Erling Haaland

09:56 PM BST

Tonight’s results in the Champions League

RB Salzburg 0-4 Brest

Stuttgart 1-1 Sparta Prague

Arsenal 2-0 PSG

Barcelona 5-0 Young Boys

Bayer Leverkusen 1-0 AC Milan

Borussia Dortmund 7-1 Celtic

Inter Milan 4-0 Red Star Belgrade

PSV 1-1 Sporting

Slovan Bratislava 0-4 Manchester City

09:51 PM BST

Match stats

Possession: Slovan 24%-76% Manchester City

Attempts: 3-28

Attempts on target: 0-14

Corners: 0-15

Touches in the opposition box: 2-83

09:48 PM BST

Full-time

There is the final whistle and Manchester City have won 4-0 against Slovan Bratislava. The scoreline really could have been anything tonight and that was pretty easy for Pep Guardiola’s side tonight to say the least.

09:46 PM BST

90 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 4

There will be two added minutes.

Savinho finds McAtee with a cross from the left but his header goes wide of the far post.

09:46 PM BST

89 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 4

Walker decides it is time for him to have a shot from distance but his driven effort is straight at Takac, who has certainly been busy tonight.

09:44 PM BST

88 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 4

Stones is found again by a Gundogan corner and this time he finds the target, to be denied by a decent save from Takac down to his left.

09:43 PM BST

86 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 4

Gundogan comes very close to making it 5-0. Good interplay between Gundogan and Grealish sends the former into the box. His shot is saved by Takac and goes narrowly wide of the far post. This really could have been a cricket score tonight.

09:41 PM BST

85 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 4

In north London Arsenal still lead PSG 2-0 with ten minutes to go. You can follow the live action here.

Meanwhile in Germany Celtic are being destroyed by Dortmund, who lead 7-1. Celtic won their opening match 5-1 against Slovan.

09:39 PM BST

83 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 4

Chance for Stones. The corner is sent in from the right by Gundogan and Stones has a free header from around eight yards, but he cannot keep it on target, which he will be disappointed about.

09:38 PM BST

81 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 4

Manchester City continue to dominate possession and pile forward. You would imagine there are still more goals in this for the visitors.

09:34 PM BST

78 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 4

Double change for Manchester City:

OFF Gvardiol, Foden

ON Walker, Grealish

09:33 PM BST

77 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 4

McAtee nearly has his second Champions League goal in a matter of minutes. Stones gives him the ball inside the box and McAtee’s shot is saved by Takac. How was Stones so far up the pitch? I suppose that is the freedom you earn when you are 4-0 up and utterly dominant that one of your centre-backs can be found in the opposition penalty area.

09:31 PM BST

GOAL! McAtee scores first Champions League goal

There is Manchester City’s fourth and it is great play between Foden and McAtee. The former dinks a little ball into the box to find the latter, who takes one touch and then smashes home past Takac. That is McAtee’s first senior goal for Manchester City and, by definition, his first goal in the Champions League.

09:29 PM BST

73 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 3

With Haaland going off, Manchester City are playing without a recognised centre-forward which is resulting in plenty of freedom for the likes of Foden, McAtee and even Lewis to move into the central striker position.

09:27 PM BST

70 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 3

Nunes plays a great lifted ball into the box in behind the Slovan back-line. The ball finds Lewis but his shot is straight at Takac. Manchester City have had plenty of chances tonight and will probably be a little disappointed that they have not scored five or six by now at least.

09:25 PM BST

69 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 3

Doku has a shot from the right-hand side of the box but it is straight at Takac. Doku may have caused problems for the Slovan defence but his end product at times is poor.

09:23 PM BST

67 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 3

Celtic put five past Slovan on matchday one so Manchester City are still two off that mark. The visitors still have just over 20 minutes to add to their tally though.

09:19 PM BST

62 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 3

Slovan making a double change of their own:

OFF Weiss, Ihnatenko

ON Zuberu, Szoke

Plenty of emotion for Weiss as he comes off against his former club.

09:17 PM BST

60 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 3

Double change for Manchester City:

OFF Haaland, Akanji

ON McAtee, Dias

09:17 PM BST

59 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 3

Savinho sends in a dangerous cross from the left and Slovan just about clear their lines. They then clear and counter. The ball ends up with Strelec, who drags his shot well wide when he may have been better served trying to find a teammate.

VAR did check to see if there was a penalty for Manchester City but nothing given.

09:14 PM BST

GOAL! Haaland adds Manchester City’s third

It is a surprise it has taken this long for the third goal to come and Haaland has had a few efforts tonight before getting on the scoresheet. It is a simple through ball from Lewis to find Haaland. The Norwegian takes it round Takac and slots into the empty net. Too easy for Manchester City.

09:10 PM BST

54 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 2

Chance for Haaland. Savinho stands up a cross to the far post from the left-hand side of the box and finds Haaland. The Norwegian tries to head it back across from where it came but misses the target. A player of his calibre should be finding the target.

09:08 PM BST

52 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 2

Lewis goes down inside the box and wants a penalty but the referee Davide Massa waves those appeals away. Replays show there was a little bit of contact and VAR does check but the on-field decision stands. Manchester City were convinced it was a penalty but the officials do not agree. It feels like one of those situations where the on-field call is paramount.

09:07 PM BST

50 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 2

Slovan have started this half slightly better, not that it is that hard. They look slightly more confident.

09:05 PM BST

49 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 2

First effort of the second half goes to, unsurprisingly, Manchester City. Doku feeds the ball into the feet of Lewis, who hits it first time. It is a fairly routine save for Takac.

09:03 PM BST

47 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 2

I wonder what Slovan coach Vladimir Weiss has said to his players at half-time. They are probably slightly relieved that they are only two goals down. One thing they have to do is keep hold of the ball a bit better. They are never going to dominate possession against Manchester City but keeping hold of the ball for slightly longer will help them.

09:01 PM BST

Second half

We are back under way in Bratislava. No changes for either side at the break.

08:55 PM BST

Assualt on the Slovan goal

08:53 PM BST

Around the grounds

Here are the half-time scores in the Champions League this evening:

Arsenal 2-0 PSG

Barcelona 3-0 Young Boys

Leverkusen 0-0 AC Milan

Borussia Dortmund 5-1 Celtic

Inter Milan 1-0 Red Star

PSV 1-0 Sporting

Slovan Bratislava 0-2 Manchester City

08:50 PM BST

HT at the Emirates

Arsenal are 2-0 up against PSG thanks to goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka. You can follow the live action from north London with our dedicated live blog.

08:46 PM BST

Half-time

There is the whistle and at the break Manchester City lead 2-0. The only surprise really is that Manchester City are not further ahead. They have struck the frame of the goal three times.

08:45 PM BST

44 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 2

Foden strikes a volley from the edge of the box but he cannot keep it down.

08:40 PM BST

39 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 2

Savinho tries to find Haaland with a cross but Takac sticks out a leg to clear. It only goes as far as the edge of the box, where Foden drags his shot wide.

Moments later Manchester City hit the frame of the goal for the third time. Gundogan has acres of space just outside the box and takes the shot on. His effort strikes the bar and Manchester City will be wondering how they are not more than two goals ahead. It feels like a matter of time until they add a third, and probably a fourth, fifth and sixth.

08:38 PM BST

38 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 2

Slovan have the chance to send a free-kick into the Manchester City box but to sum up their night so far it does not even reach the penalty area as Lewis heads away.

08:37 PM BST

36 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 2

The stats make for grim reading if you are a Slovan fan. They have had just 18% possession, with zero shots on target and just one touch inside the Manchester City box. It is not a surprise that Manchester City are dominating but Slovan have been pretty terrible.

Foden has the latest chance for Manchester City from outside the box but he drags his effort just wide.

08:33 PM BST

32 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 2

As well as the huge gap in terms of the quality of the players, one of Slovan’s main issues is they cannot keep hold of the ball for no more than a few seconds, which means they are having to do a lot of running off the ball which will in the long-run cause fatigue later in the game.

Another chance comes for the visitors and Doku continues to cause the home side problems. He goes past Bajric and fires a cross across the box but cannot find Haaland. Perhaps Doku should have played a softer ball across than smashing it.

08:27 PM BST

26 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 2

Manchester City strike the frame of the goal for a second time. Foden strikes from just outside the box, which should be an easy save for Takac but he is lucky that his only partial save comes back off the post and into his hands. It should have been a routine save and was nearly punished for his mistake.

08:24 PM BST

24 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 2

Doku hits the frame of the goal. Moments after he set up a chance for Lewis, whose shot was saved, he has an effort of his own which comes back off the far post. Slovan are really struggling to cope with Doku down Manchester City’s right.

08:23 PM BST

22 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 2

Savinho whips in another corner for Manchester City in this first half but Slovan manage to clear their lines in the end after a slightly risky challenge on Lewis inside the Slovan penalty area.

08:22 PM BST

20 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 2

Over in north London Arsenal have taken the lead against PSG through Kai Havertz. You can follow all the action from the Emirates with our dedicated live blog.

08:17 PM BST

16 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 2

Should be 3-0. Lewis feeds it through to Haaland inside the Slovan box and you would think the Norwegian would slot it home, but he hits it straight at Takac.

08:16 PM BST

GOAL! Foden makes it 2-0

Not even 15 minutes on the clock and Manchester City are already two goals to the good. Doku drives into the box and cuts it back to Foden near the edge of the box. He picks his spot and prioritises accuracy over power, finding the far corner despite the best efforts of Takac.

08:14 PM BST

13 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 1

08:09 PM BST

GOAL! Manchester City take the lead

Inside the opening 10 minutes and Pep Guardiola’s side are ahead. Savinho’s shot is headed out to the edge of the box. Gundogan takes it first time and his volley takes a huge deflection off Savvidis, which wrong foots Takac in the Slovan goal. 1-0 Manchester City and it could be a long night for the home side.

08:04 PM BST

4 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 0

Slovan need to be very careful there. They lose it deep in their own half and Haaland tries to find Foden in the centre of the box, but he cannot quite find his teammate.

08:04 PM BST

3 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 0

Chance for Manchester City. Lewis gets to the byline and cuts it back to find Haaland, who should hit the target from no more than eight yards out but his effort goes wide.

08:03 PM BST

2 mins: Slovan Bratislava 0 Manchester City 0

Only a minute on the clock and Doku wins Manchester City the first corner of the night. Gundogan sends in an outswinger but Slovan clear at the near post.

Slovan then break and former Manchester City man Weiss finds Tolic on the right-hand side of the box. He fires a shot across Ortega’s goal and narrowly misses the far corner.

08:00 PM BST

Kick-off

We are under way in Bratislava.

07:57 PM BST

Kick-off fast approaching

Both sides have emerged from the tunnel and we are just moments away from kick-off in Bratislava.

07:54 PM BST

Pep Guardiola speaking to TNT

07:52 PM BST

Reminder of the team news

Manchester City: Ortega, Lewis, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol, Nunes, Gundogan, Savinho, Foden, Doku, Haaland.

Substitutes: McAtee, Bernardo Silva, Grealish, Kovacic, Dias, Walker, Carson, Ederson.

Slovan Bratislava: Takac, Blackman, Kashia, Bajric, Wimmer, Savvidis, Ignatenko, Barseghyan, Tolic, Weiss, Strelec.

Substitutes: Trnovsky, Hrdina, Voet, Medvedev, Marcelli, Mustafic, Mak, Zuberu, Pauschek, Gajdos, Szoke, Metsoko.

07:45 PM BST

Heavy rock to get them in the mood

07:41 PM BST

Haaland gearing up

07:38 PM BST

Fixtures tonight

Manchester City kick off against Slovan Bratislava in just under half an hour. There are six other games kicking off at 8pm (BST) and two games have just concluded:

RB Salzburg 0-4 Brest (FT)

Stuttgart 1-1 Sparta Prague (FT)

Arsenal vs PSG

Barcelona vs Young Boys

Leverkusen vs AC Milan

Dortmund vs Celtic

Inter Milan vs Red Star

PSV vs Sporting

07:34 PM BST

Loss of Rodri

07:27 PM BST

TNT crew on Phil Foden

07:20 PM BST

Guardiola: “There will be no complacency from my side”

07:13 PM BST

Stones on Rodri

07:09 PM BST

Visitors arriving

07:04 PM BST

Over at the Emirates

In north London Arsenal host PSG and you can follow all the action from the Emirates with our dedicated live blog here.

07:01 PM BST

Full team news

Pep Guardiola makes six changes to his starting XI from their 1-1 draw against Newcastle on Saturday. Stefan Ortega, John Stones, Matheus Nunes, Savinho, Phil Foden and Jeremy Doku all come in. Erling Haaland is fit enough to start despite picking up a knock.

Manchester City: Ortega, Lewis, Stones, Akanji, Gvardiol, Nunes, Gundogan, Savinho, Foden, Doku, Haaland.

Substitutes: McAtee, Bernardo Silva, Grealish, Kovacic, Dias, Walker, Carson, Ederson.

Former Manchester City player Vladimir Weiss starts as does former Tottenham defender Kevin Wimmer.

Slovan Bratislava: Takac, Blackman, Kashia, Bajric, Wimmer, Savvidis, Ignatenko, Barseghyan, Tolic, Weiss, Strelec.

Substitutes: Trnovsky, Hrdina, Voet, Medvedev, Marcelli, Mustafic, Mak, Zuberu, Pauschek, Gajdos, Szoke, Metsoko.

06:50 PM BST

Other fixtures tonight

RB Salzburg 0-1 Brest (HT)

Stuttgart 1-1 Sparta Prague (HT)

Arsenal vs PSG

Barcelona vs Young Boys

Leverkusen vs AC Milan

Dortmund vs Celtic

Inter Milan vs Red Star

PSV vs Sporting

06:45 PM BST

Manchester City team news

06:45 PM BST

Slovan Bratislava factfile

Founded- 1919, changed their name to Slovan Bratislava in 1953 having previously been named I. CSSK Bratislava

Stadium- Tehelne pole

Capacity- 22,500

Manager- Vladimir Weiss

Won the Slovak First Football League last season, most successful team in Slovakia

First time ever in the Champions League

Won the UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup in 1968-69

Currently top of the Slovak Super Liga with 21 points, one point clear of MSK Zilina after seven wins and one loss in first eight games

They beat Michalovce 4-2 on Friday

06:14 PM BST

Guardiola annoyed by talk of ‘friendly game’

It was meant as a compliment, but hearing an opposition manager describe Pep Guardiola as a genius, while comparing him to the famous Catalan architect Antonio Gaudi for the way he has reimagined and redesigned football, you get the impression this is a game Slovan Bratislava do not believe they can win.

Vladimir Weiss may be the manager of Slovakia’s most successful club, who won the European Cup Winners Cup back in 1969, but he admitted their main aim when they take on the champions of England will be “to survive” with their “dignity” intact.

“We’re going to play one of the best teams in the world,” said Weiss, whose son, of the same name, started his career in the Manchester City youth team and is now captain of Slovan at the age of 34.

“Pep Guardiola is one of the best coaches in the world and has been building his team for several years. We’re really excited.

“Our main objective is to survive. This is like a fairytale, but when we wake up in the morning it is the reality. We must not only play to enjoy it, we must also be dignified opposition.”

Slovan Bratislava had to progress through four qualifying rounds to make the main draw, a campaign that began on July 10 against Macedonia’s Struga, before they went on to knock out Slovenia’s Celje, Cyprus’ APOEL and Denmark’s FC Midtjylland, each over two legs.

In their first Champions League game, Slovan were thrashed 5-1 by Scottish champions Celtic and, in the pre-match build up, this has the feel of a cup tie against lower-league opposition rather than Champions League peers.

For the critics of this newly expanded and bloated group stage, this is precisely the sort of mismatch they will highlight, even if it is actually the fourth time a Slovakian team has qualified for the Champions League (although Slovan are the first for 14 years).

Asked about being compared to one of Catalonia’s most famous sons, Guardiola smiled and asked “if he (Weiss) had a glass of wine”, but said he took [the compliment] “extremely well”.

Yet, some of it did not sit well with a manager who did not like the undertone of complacency creeping in. “I want to say something honest,” he added. “With the start of this press conference [it seems like] we are going to play a friendly game. I’m a little bit concerned about that in terms of the questions about Gaudi... it’s a competition.

“Nothing is taken for granted, even when the media [and opposition] say how beautiful we are. Nothing comes from that.”