Kairat to face Real Madrid in Champions League: Draw results
On August 28, the draw for the league phase of the Champions League took place in Monaco.
Kairat’s home matches
A truly top-class opponent will visit Almaty – 15-time Champions League winner Real Madrid. In addition, the Galácticos have also won the Spanish championship 36 times.
Along with Los Blancos, Almaty will host Belgium’s Club Brugge, Greece’s Olympiacos F.C., and Cyprus’s Pafos F.C. While these clubs are strong, they are not considered insurmountable, and Kairat could potentially earn points in these matches.
Kairat’s away matches
On the road, Kairat will face Italian giants Inter Milan, who have won the Champions League three times and claimed 20 national titles.
In London, the Kazakh club will meet Arsenal, 13-time champion of England and a Champions League finalist in 2006.
Kairat will also travel to Portugal to play against Sporting CP and to Denmark for a clash with F.C. Copenhagen.
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New format of the Champions League
This competition format is being used for the second season in a row. As before, 36 clubs are split into four pots: only the Champions League winner is guaranteed a place in the first pot, while the rest are seeded according to their five-year UEFA ranking.
According to the draw rules, each club receives two opponents from each pot (including its own). That means all teams play eight matches: four at home and four away. Clubs from the same country cannot meet at this stage, and no more than two opponents from a single country are allowed in one group.
Photo: uefa.com
When will Kairat play?
The league phase matches will take place between September 16 and January 28. The exact schedule will be announced no later than August 30.
It’s worth recalling that Almaty’s Kairat reached the league phase of the Champions League for the first time in history after a heroic home victory over Scotland’s Celtic in a penalty shootout.
This achievement is now considered one of the top 10 milestones in Kazakhstan’s football history.