BRATISLAVA: Yaya Touré’s tough season as the first African coach in the Champions League has seen his Slovan Bratislava team set an unwanted record of games lost.

Slovan’s 4-0 defeat to LASK in Austria on Tuesday was the Slovak champion’s 14th straight loss in the competition’s main phase dating back to 1992.

That beat Marseille’s Champions League mark of 13 losses in a row from March 2012 until November 2020. The all-time record is still 16 in the old European Cup format by Jeunesse Esch of Luxembourg.

“It’s very difficult, to be honest,” Touré, a Champions League winner with Barcelona in 2009, said after the record-setting loss to LASK. “They were more aggressive, maybe we didn’t fight enough, but sometimes you have to just respect it.”

Modern European soccer is difficult for teams from small markets like Slovakia, compared to the era when Slovan could beat Barcelona in a UEFA competition final. That was to win the European Cup-Winners’ Cup title in 1969.

Slovan’s losing run started against AC Milan

Slovan’s dismal Champions League run started in October 1992, losing to AC Milan home and away in the second round. The early stages then were still a knockout format in the inaugural season of a rebrand from the European Cup.

There were eight defeats in 2024 in the inaugural league-phase format, plus four more this season.

Slovan have upcoming games hosting Real Betis and Shakhtar Donetsk to avoid sharing Jeunesse’s record in the competition’s 72-season history.

After Jeunesse drew 1-1 with Liverpool in September 1973, the team lost all 16 European Cup first-round games until a 1-0 win over Danish champion Aarhus in September 1987.

Slovan also risk not being in the Champions League qualifying rounds next year for the first time in nine seasons. Touré’s team trail eight points behind unbeaten Slovakian league leader FC Dac.

“It’s not easy, but the season is long,” Touré said. “We’re fighting in multiple competitions, at the moment we’re playing every two or three days and the fatigue has accumulated with this set of players.”