Forgotten Rangers favourite leads hometown club to historic first ever Champions League qualification

 Vladimir Weiss (C) of Slovan Bratislava (Pic: Getty) Vladimir Weiss (C) of Slovan Bratislava (Pic: Getty)
Vladimir Weiss (C) of Slovan Bratislava (Pic: Getty) | Getty Images
The Slovakian club will be dreaming of possible ties against the likes of Barcelona, Liverpool, Arsenal and Real Madrid.

The draw for the newly formatted ‘league phase’ of the UEFA Champions League takes place later today with plenty of familiar phases returning to European football’s premier competition.

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Celtic will be in the draw while Rangers will have to make do with the Europa League having lost their qualifier to Dynamo Kyiv earlier this month. The likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, Manchester City, Bayern Munich, PSG, Juventus and plenty of other familiar names will be taking part in the ‘league phase’.

However, there will be a few new faces making their debut in what would previously have been the ‘group stage’. Girona from Spain and Brest from France are at this stage for the first time in their history and have now been joined by a club who are captained by a player that some Rangers may remember well and others might have forgotten.

Slovan Bratislava of Slovakia finally reached the league (previously group) phase of the Champions League by beating FC Midtjylland of Denmark 4-3 over two legs including a dramatic 3-2 at their home ground the Tehelné Pole stadium last night. The man wearing the armband for Slovan is of course former Ibrox loanee Vladimir Weiss.

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The now 34-year old spent just one season in Glasgow on loan from Manchester City during the 2010/11 season but was a crowd favourite during his time in blue. The Rangers faithful took an instant liking to the midfielder after finding out he had the chance to join rivals Celtic but opted for the Gers instead.

Weiss netted five goals in 35 appearances across all competitions and went on to play for the likes of Espanyol and Olympiacos later in his career before signing for Slovan in his hometown of Bratislava in 2020. In 2021 Slovan brought in Weiss’ father, also named Vladimir, as their head coach making the club very much a family affair.

Slovan Braitslava will be in Pot 4 for the Champions League draw later today which means Weiss jnr could very well be back in Glasgow if they find themselves up against Celtic who sit in Pot 3. The draw is due to start at 5pm UK time.

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