Roma
Slovan BratislavaRoma vs Slovan Bratislava on Tuesday 20 October should be the gentlest home night Gian Piero Gasperini gets in this Champions League. Slovan have no points, a famous name on the bench in Yaya Toure, and a long habit of losing at this level. They also have one result from 2011 that Roma fans would happily forget.
Kick-off at the Stadio Olimpico is 21:00 in Rome and Bratislava, which is 20:00 in the UK and 3pm ET in the US.
Where Roma are after two months
Back in the Champions League for the first time since 2018/19, Roma drew 1-1 at Fenerbahce on Matchday 1. Bryan Cristante put them ahead before half-time after good work from Donyell Malen, Archie Brown equalised early in the second half, and VAR overturned a late penalty Roma felt they deserved. Real Madrid visit the Olimpico on Wednesday 14 October. Unless Roma win that one, Slovan are the obvious place to find a first home win in this competition.
The league form is decent. Roma are third in Serie A with 14 points, two behind joint leaders Inter and Lazio, and they have beaten Atalanta and Torino and drawn 2-2 with Inter. Sunday's 0-0 at Como was the more Roma-ish result: Malen was sent off in the 53rd minute, ten men held on, and a chance to go top went begging. His ban is domestic only, so he can play here.
My one worry about this side is that they draw too often against teams they ought to beat.
Stadio Olimpico. Photo: Messapi, cropped by Blackcat, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons.
Nine defeats from nine for Slovan
At home Slovan are a big club. They won an eighth straight Slovak title last season and got here through three qualifying rounds, against Saburtalo, Mjallby and Celje. This season is shakier: they're fourth, six points off the top, after a 1-1 draw with Skalica.
In the league phase they simply haven't laid a glove on anyone. PSG beat them 6-1 in Paris on Matchday 1, Ferran Torres scoring a hat-trick and Suleiman Camara getting the consolation, which made it nine defeats from nine league phase games across 2024/25 and 2026/27. Andraz Sporar, with six goals in nine games this season, is the man to watch, and Tigran Barseghyan does most of the creating. They host Stuttgart on Wednesday before coming to Rome.
RomaSlovan BratislavaThen there's the coach. Toure, the former Manchester City and Barcelona midfielder who won this competition as a player with Barcelona, became the first African coach to lead a team in a Champions League match when Slovan faced PSG in September. A debut away at the holders followed by a trip to the Olimpico is a rough way to start.
August 2011, and Luis Enrique's bad start
The clubs have met twice, both times in a Europa League play-off in Luis Enrique's first competitive games as Roma coach. Slovan won 1-0 in Bratislava on 18 August 2011, then drew 1-1 in Rome a week later, Simone Perrotta scoring for Roma, to go through 2-1 on aggregate.
It was a long time ago, and they're the only competitive meetings, but expect Italian TV to bring it up.
Missing players
Roma's issue is in goal. Mile Svilar has a fracture, so Pier Luigi Gollini should keep the gloves, and Cristante has been a doubt with a knee problem. We'll know more after the Madrid game.
Slovan's main long-term absentee is striker Mykola Kukharevych. Line-ups go up on the UEFA match page about an hour before kick-off.
Our Roma vs Slovan Bratislava prediction
Gasperini's defensive structure should keep Slovan quiet, and Paulo Dybala, Matias Soule and Malen can each settle a game on their own. The risk is a flat display six days after Real Madrid, against a side who will sit deep and look for Sporar on the break.
I'm going with Roma 3-0. An early goal would open it up, and I'd expect Roma to pull away in the second half. You can watch Roma vs Slovan Bratislava free on DAMITV's Champions League streams, and Roma's league games are on our Serie A streams page. Spanish speakers can follow it on Champions League en vivo.
The same night, Napoli host Bodo/Glimt (our preview) and PSG host Barcelona (our preview).
