LASK and Slovan Bratislava, Champions League's bottom two, seek breathing room at Raiffeisen Arena

Three points are on the line for two clubs that have taken their lumps in the Champions League league phase. LASK hosts SK Slovan Bratislava at the Raiffeisen Arena in a clash between the competition's bottom two sides, where what's really at stake is a chance to catch the first breath of their European season.

LASK arrive having played three matches, with one win and two losses, scoring 6 goals and conceding 9 in the tournament. That record stands out because it clashes with their current form: over their last five games they've racked up four wins and just one defeat, with recent victories that have restored some confidence heading into this matchup.

Slovan Bratislava, on the other hand, are enduring a far rougher start to the competition: three matches, three losses, with just 1 goal scored and 13 conceded. That goal difference explains why they sit at the bottom of the overall standings. Still, over their last five matches (a sample that blends competitions) they've posted three wins, a draw and a loss, a sign the team isn't completely written off despite their poor showing in this Champions League.

It's also worth looking at each team's season trends in the Champions League 2026 itself, combining home and away matches, over a sample of three games: LASK average 2 goals scored and 3 conceded per match, with no clean sheets, and tend to score between the 61st and 75th minutes. Florian Flecker leads the way with 2 goals, while Sasa Kalajdzic and Krystof Danek have one each. Slovan, over that same sample, average just 0.333 goals scored per match against 4.333 conceded, also without a single clean sheet, and tend to score between the 46th and 60th minutes; their only recorded scorer is Suleiman Camara.

In the overall standings, both teams are bunched near the bottom: LASK sit in 24th place with 3 points, while Slovan Bratislava close out the table in 36th place with none, a gap of 3 points between the two sides.

Possible lineups

LASK's likely starting eleven, rated low reliability based on the sample of recent matches, would be led by Lukas Jungwirth in goal, with Alemão, Andrés Andrade, Melayro Bogarde and Xavier Mbuyamba forming the back line, Yvan Dibango, Robert Ljubicic and Sascha Horvath in midfield, and Christoph Lang alongside Samuel Adeniran up front, with Florian Flecker also among the regulars.

For Slovan Bratislava, rated medium reliability, the projected lineup has Dominik Takác between the posts, a back four of Kenan Bajric, Sandro Cruz, César Blackman and Svetozar Markovic, a midfield of Artur Gajdos, Peter Pokorny, Tigran Barseghyan, Rahim Ibrahim and Nino Marcelli, and Adam Griger as the attacking reference point. In both cases these are projected lineups, not confirmed ones.

What the numbers say

Our model gives a moderate edge to the home side, though nothing here should be taken as a sure thing:

This is our own estimate based on season trends, not a betting line or a definitive forecast. Expected goals also point to an open match: 2.03 for LASK and 1.65 for Slovan, a combined 3.68 that lines up with the 83% our model assigns to the match going over 2.5 goals. The probability of both teams scoring, however, is lower, at just 22%.

With two defenses that have been leaking goals easily in this competition and a home side arriving in better form, the Raiffeisen Arena could see a wide open match on both ends.