Champions League: another embarrassment for Slovan Bratislava, Pilsen likely to face Helsinki

On Tuesday and Wednesday the opening matches of the first preliminary round of the Champions League were played. Slovak Slovan Bratislava, Hungarian Ferencváros Budapest and Bulgarian Ludogorets entered the action. How did it go?

On Tuesday, there was a surprise result only in Armenia. The champions Pyunik Yerevan drew at home with Cluj, a regular in the cups. The goalless draw gives the underdog a good starting position for the rematch.

The other favourites have already won, Malmö outplayed Reykjavik 3:2 at home, Ludogorets beat Sutjeska from Montenegro 2:0, Lech Poznan came out victorious (1:0) against Karabakh.

On Wednesday, the losses of the favourites were more numerous. The strengthened Slovan Bratislava played the whole second half against Georgian Dinamo Batumi on the powerplay, but did not score a goal. After a 0:0 draw, the Slovak fans booed the players, and they have a lot to make up for in the rematch.

Even the two teams that played in the Champions League last year and the year before couldn’t win. Moldova’s Sherif Tiraspol played 0:0 at Zrinjski from Bosnia and Herzegovina, as did Ferencváros against Tobol from Kazakhstan.

Bodo/Glimt from the Faroe Islands did their duty with a 3: 0 win against Klasivik. HJK Helsinki beat RFS from Latvia 1: 0. The Finnish champion is therefore closer to facing Viktoria Pilsen in the next round before the rematch.

The return matches will be played next Tuesday and Wednesday.

Source: UEFA