Champions League Play-Off
FC Kairat Almaty (A)
~~~~~~~~~~ Official TC Match Preview ~~~~~~~~~~


Daizen Maeda in action against Kairat's Aleksandr Mrynskiy during the first leg that finished 0-0


Central Stadium, Almaty
Tuesday, 26 August 2025
17.45 BST

Celtic face a very difficult week ahead, beginning with a 7000 mile round trip to take on FC Kairat Almaty, with a place in the Champions League Group Stage up for grabs.

These two sides played out a 0-0 draw last week in Glasgow in the first leg - in which Celtic dominated possession, huffed and puffed, but lacked a cutting edge, while they were fortunate not to be further punished on a number of occasions by Kairat on the counter - and now face having to create a little bit of Scottish Football history.

The Hoops are coming into this game on the back of a comfortable 3-0 win over Livingston in the League on Saturday, in no small part due to a much changed lineup, but now face the two of the most difficult fixtures of the season so far, back to back; to qualify for the Champions League on the back of a 7000 mile round trip, followed by a much shorter journey across the Clyde to Ipox and the first Glasgow derby of the season.

The pressure is even more acute when to acknowledge that Celtic have never won away in any of their 3 previous visits to Kazakhstan. In fact, no Scottish club or National side has!

With Almaty situated less than 20 miles from the border with Kyrgyzstan and just a few hours away from the border with China, it really puts into perspective just how far and how long this trip will be for the Bhoys - even before contending with the heat and the occasion that awaits.

And while the Bhoys have always previously managed to qualify from these matchups against teams from Kazakhstan, on each occasion it has been ultimately dependant on the results in Glasgow that have made the difference.​

Benjamin Nygren scored twice v Livingston & now has three since arriving during the summer

Who are FC Kairat Almaty?

Kairat caused more than a few headaches for Rodgers and his side last week, and those will have only become more acute when the Bhoys square off once again against their Kazakh hosts, lead by manager Raphael Urazbakhtin.

Currently they are sitting in 3rd place domestically - which is should be noted is just 1 point behind the League leaders and just goal difference seperates 2nd and 3rd - and boast a strong home record.

On top of which, they postponed their league fixture at the weekend to help prepare for this showdown, in addition to the unfamiliar heat that awaits Celtic, will have to contend with and all of these factors combined on top of the extensive travel will make it all the more difficult.

Indeed, they have also previously won all three of their 'Home' Champions League qualifying matches to this point, without conceding even a single goal in any of those, with victories against Olimpija Ljubljana (2-0), KuPS (3-0) and Slovan Bratislavia (1-0), the Champions of Slovenia, Finland and Slovakia respectively.

Another factor in the host's favour will be the familiarity with the conditions, which will be hot, humid and as Almaty is situated in the foothills of the Trans-lli Alatau mountain range, extending from the neighhouring Kyrgyzstan, and at an altitude of some 3000ft above sea level, which requires some adapting to. To put that into perspective would be akin to playing two-thirds of the way up Ben Nevis!​

This is by far the furthest that Kairat have progressed in Champions League qualifying, with their only previous taste of Continental Group Stage football coming in the 2021/22 Conference League.

Considering what they have already overcome, they will be sure to throw everything that they have in their hopes of progressing, including postponing their match against Zhenis to aid in preparing for this showdown with Celtic.​

Johnny Kenny scored his first goal at Celtic Park in the 3-0 win against Livingston at the weekend

Stats & Facts​

• The Hoops are undefeated so far this season across all competitions (P5 W4 D1 L0) and have kept 4 clean sheets.

• Celtic have never won in any of the 3 previous visits to Kazakhstan, having lost in 2013 (2-0 v Shaktar Karagandy), before playing out a draw in 2016 (1-1 v FC Astana), followed in 2017, going down 4-3 against FC Astana.

• In fact, no Scottish team - club, national or even U/21's - have managed to win away in Kazakhstan.

• Kairat Almaty have won all 3 of their previous 'Home' Champions League qualifying matches without conceding a single goal, with victories, 2-0 v Olimpija Ljubljana (Slovenia), 3-0 v KuPS (Finland) and 1-0 v Slovan Bratislavia (Slovakia).

• Should the hosts previal, they will have achieved the rare feat of having defeated 4 different national champions in the same qualifying campaign.

Kasper Schmeichel was one of only 3 players that retained their starting place at the weekend

Team News

Brendan Rodgers will be without Alistair Johnston (hamstring) and Jota (knee), and the manager also took the precaution of rotating eight players from the XI that started against Kairat last week for the 3-0 win over Livingston at the weekend, no doubt with this match in mind.

It is expected that the manager will likely revert to a lineup that more closely resembled the one that started last Wednesday, with perhaps Adam Idah's place possibly the most vulnerable, given his halftime substitution last week and that both Shin Yamada and Johnny Kenny impressed in that same role with their energy and all round contributions than the form that Idah has displayed thus far.

As for the hosts, there is not expected to be much change from the side that was fielded last week in Glasgow. Given their efforts as a team in the first leg, their home conditions, the heat and a full week off to prepare, there probably won't be too many headaches when it comes to team selection.

Raphael Urazbakhtin has already shown how he studied Celtic in preparation for last week, including adopting a tactic that was successfully employed by Stephen Robinson when Celtic faced St Mirren earlier this month, in deploying Aleksandr Mrynskiy's pace to contend with the threat of Daizen Maeda down the left, and so now it will be interesting to see what Rodgers has learned from the first match that can help Celtic overcome this tie.

Referee: Maurizio Mariani (ITA)

The experienced 43y.o. Italian has not only taken charge of 169 Serie A games, he is highly regarded at UEFA, as exemplified by the fact that last season he was appointed to two Champions League Quarter-Finals as well as one of the Europa League Semi-Finals. He has never previously officiated a match involving Celtic.

Overall Record
P:- W:- D:- L:-

VAR: Marco Di Bello (ITA)

Weather

The expected forecast for Almaty is hot and sunny weather with little to no chance of rain, that will still be around the 26°C mark for when kick-off is scheduled on Tuesday evening.



~~~~ Head to Head ~~~~

P:1 W:0 D:1 L:0

v All Kazakh Opposition
P:7 W:3 D:2 L:2

~~~~ 2024/25 Form ~~~~​

Overall
W D W W W ~ D L L W W​