Setting out on this EuroTrip adventure, Trebor Mahtal had dismissed chances of European success with teams outside the continent’s top seven leagues. Yet contrary to all expectations, he’d won the Europa Conference League with Dynamo Kiev then the Europa League with Crvena zvezda. But after two successful years in Serbia, the Zambian manager decided it was time for a new challenge.
Mahtal had only won domestic titles in Greece, Ukraine and Serbia, leaving him with 23 more national titles to target. Having stepped down as Red Star manager in early June, several jobs were available and many more managers were sacked over the next couple of weeks. Mahtal spotted a couple that piqued his interest, including Norwegian side Odd and Slovakian side Slovan Bratislava, who made an offer first. Mahtal delayed, Odd offered an interview but he realised they’d been relegated and were in a right mess. So Mahtal more than trebled his wages to join Slovan Bratislava on £7k per week.
Who Are Slovan Bratislava?
SK Slovan Bratislava is a professional club in the Slovakian capital Bratislava. The club was founded in 1919 as I. CCSK Bratislava before switching to its current name in 1953. Slovan is Slovakia’s most successful team with 21 titles, eight of which were during this save, and 20 cup wins, three of which were during this save. It’s also the only Slovakian or Czechoslovakian club to win a European competition, having beaten Barcelona to win the Cup Winners’ Cup in 1969.
Slovan has a fierce historical rivalry with Trnava, a local rivalry with Inter Bratislava and competitive rivalries with Zilina and Dun. Streda. It plays at the 22,500-capacity Tehelne Pole, which was built in 2019, and a good infrastructure of 19 youth recruitment, 15 junior coaching and 14 training and youth facilities. There’s £5.4m in the bank with a transfer budget of £1.76m and wage budget £143k, of which it was overspending by £20k per week.
Last season, Slovan was a distant second in NIKÉ Liga, finishing 17 points behind champions Dun. Streda. However, the media have them as 10/11 favourites, so Mahtal’s mission will be deliver the title they also won in 2032 and 12 of the previous 14 seasons.
Meet The Slovan Bratislava Squad Of 2034
Mahtal wasted no time selling 16 players for £10m. That left Dagur Björnsson as the best player at the club along with holding midfielder Lionel Delobel, defender Hugo Lamock, midfielder Lars Montegnies and, probably most excitingly, striker Sebastiano Esposito. There’s plenty of potential in attacking midfielder Ivan Horvath, goalkeeper Miroslav Hradecky and strikers Lee Barclay and Juraj Chovan. Mahtal added to that with goalkeeper Douglas for £325k from Botafogo, free agent attacker Andrew Bevan, 6ft 4in midfielder David Simko for £825k from Dun. Streda then, in January, attacker Andrej Holub for £250k from Dun. Streda and Red Star left back Nikola Popovic for £1.1m.
Having assessed the players, Mahtal initially considered an asymmetric 3-5-2 approach and a more conventional 4-3-3 before evolving that into an asymmetric 4-3-3.
Getting Started In Slovakia
For those not au fait with Slovakia’s NIKÉ Liga, the 12 teams play each other twice and then split into 10-game Championship and Relegation groups. Mahtal’s first game was at rivals Trnava, and they were poor in a 1-0 defeat. Another rival clash followed at home to Zilina, and he got an improved performance as Björnsson hit a 25-yard piledriver and Esposito scored a penalty and created the third for Delobel. They had a slightly up-and-down start and trailed early pacesetters Trencin by three points after 11 games.
The second half of the regular season began with a 4-0 win at Zilina inspired by Esposito’s brace, which took Slovan top for the first time. They kicked on after that, including a Montegnies hat trick edging an exciting 4-3 victory at Presov and Bevan following suit in a 4-0 win over Banska Bystrica. Trencin’s form fell off a cliff and Slovan opened up an 11-point lead going into the winter break.
2035 began with Mahtal’s 600th game in management and a 3-0 win at Podbrezová led by Björnsson’s brace before Esposito’s hat trick led a 4-1 victory at Kosice. But a 1-0 loss at Dun. Streda left them 15 points clear at the end of the regular 22-game season. The Championship Group began with another trip to Dun. Streda and another defeat before a tired team drew 0-0 with Skaldic. Mahtal gave the entire squad three days off, which worked out as Bevan and Horvath earned a 2-0 win at Ruzomberok. Two of their three-man midfield Delobel and Björnsson suffered six-week injuries but 1-1s at home to Trnava and at Trencin maintained Slovan’s 11-point lead with five games remaining.
Trnava slipped to a draw the day before Slovan travelled to Skalica, which meant a win would secure the title. They were handed a gift after 20 minutes as a stray pass from midfield set Bevan through to round the keeper and tap home. Esposito missed a penalty four minutes later but Montegnies scored from the resulting corner. Slovan Bratislava won NIKÉ Liga!
Slovan went on to win the title by 10 points, finishing on 67 points after 20 wins, 7 draws and 5 defeats, scoring a league-high and conceding 28. Bevan was the league’s top scorer with 18 in 29 and Björnsson and Esposito led the way with 10 assists.
Back In The Conference League
Mahtal’s Slovan reign started in the Europa Conference League second qualifying round, which they eased through 4-1 against Albanian side Vllaznia. That set up a meeting with Mahtal’s former club Domzale and Bevan got his first goal in a 3-1 away win before Barclay scored twice in a 4-2 home success. And they eased through to the league phase with a 5-3 aggregate win over Sarajevo.
The league phase began with an easy 3-0 at home to Riga led by an Esposito double. Mahtal had a quick reunion with former Serbian foe Cukaricki and Slovan were edged out 2-1. He then had a reunion with Panathinaikos and they bounced back with a dominant performance in which Esposito scored the only goal from the penalty spot. They were unlucky to lose 2-1 at Wolfsburg but Horvath and Bevan braces led a wild 6-3 win at Astana and Esposito’s late goal edged a 3-2 win over Dinamo Brest to secure 8th place.
The last 16 teed up another clash with former side Panathinaikos. Slovan were dreadful in the away leg and lucky to escape with a 1-0 loss. The home leg was an even worse game as neither side got anything going, other than Montegnies being slid through by Holub to coolly finish. That was the only highlight in 120 minutes and it went to the dreaded penalty shootout. Esposito, who’d had a dreadful game, predictably missed but Douglas also saved Panathinaikos’ first penalty. Both sides scored and Douglas saved again from Chermiti, and Bevan and Lamock converted to Slovan a pretty undeserved victory. They got a relatively favourable quarter final draw against Våleranga. Esposito and Bevan snuck a 2-1 home win before Montegnies and Esposito strikes earned a comfortable 2-0 in Norway.
They also got the favourable side of the semis as they faced Hajduk Split while Brighton faced St. Gallen. Hajduk had the better of the first leg in Croatia but a late Holub strike earned a 1-1. Delobel and Björnsson were just about fit for the bench in the return leg and Mahtal switched to an asymmetric 4-4-2 to counter Hajduk’s 4-4-2. That stemmed the wide threat and Slovan took the lead just before half time as Esposito seized on a loose pass and raced through to chip the keeper. The striker turned creator just after the break as he squared for Montegnies to tuck home then doubled his tally with a volley that crashed in off the post, and they were in dreamland as Horvath converted winger Dominik Janek’s deep cross. A crushing 4-1 win booked Slovan’s unlikely place in the Final, with the Slovan fans singing “Sweet Esposito” to their game-winning hero at the final whistle.
Europa Conference League Final
Nobody expected Slovan Bratislava to get anywhere near the Final, least of all Mahtal. But his players and around 20,000 Slovakian supporters descended on Birmingham to see their side compete in their second European Final against massive favourites Brighton at Villa Park. For the first time all season, Mahtal had no injury concerns other than his backup keeper, so he lined up:
Douglas; Egan-Riley, Lamock, Jasinski, Moravcik; Delobel; Björnsson, Montegnies; Horvath; Esposito, Bevan
Nothing happened in the first half and Slovan did well to limit Brighton’s attacking threats. So it proved no surprise that they scored from a free kick. Mahtal went on the front foot and Esposito missed a great chance and was unlucky to see an effort crash out off the post. He continued to push and Brighton killed the game off from a late corner. But Mahtal was massively proud of his boy’s efforts against a far superior opponent, given João Pedro’s £130k per week is more than Mahtal’s squad earns combined!
Unexpected Success At Slovan
Mahtal expected to challenge for the Slovak title but the European run was an added bonus that set the club up financially. Slovan’s star man was Esposito, who scored 26 with 13 assists in 47 games and won the ECL Golden Boot. Other key performers were Horvath with 15 goals and 12 assists, Bevan with 23 goals, Björnsson with 12 goals and 12 assists and Montegnies with 11 goals and 11 assists.
However, Mahtal’s work in Slovakia was done as, having lifted the title, he saw no need to hang around. So, two days after the ECL Final, he resigned from his position. He left Slovan after 55 games, of which he won 36, drew 9 and lost 10, scoring 115 and conceding 55.
Where would Mahtal end up on the next leg of his EuroTrip? Join us on Friday to find out!
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