{"id":22719,"date":"2025-08-25T18:48:09","date_gmt":"2025-08-25T18:48:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/22719\/"},"modified":"2025-08-25T18:48:09","modified_gmt":"2025-08-25T18:48:09","slug":"who-will-win-kairat-almaty-vs-celtic-our-writers-deliver-predictions-for-champions-league-playoff-second-leg","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/22719\/","title":{"rendered":"Who will win Kairat Almaty vs Celtic? Our writers deliver predictions for Champions League playoff second leg"},"content":{"rendered":"

It’s a \u00a340million shoot-out for the Hoops as they looked to return to the league phase promise landRecord Sport Online<\/strong> and Mark Pirie<\/strong><\/a> Assistant Live Sports Editor<\/p>\n

19:00, 25 Aug 2025<\/p>\n

Kairat’s Edmilson (L) and Celtic’s Cameron Carter-Vickers in action(Image: SNS Group)<\/p>\n

It looked to be a dream draw for Celtic<\/a> – but Kairat Almaty can turn it into a nightmare in the second leg.<\/p>\n

Fan frustrations boiled over as the Premiership<\/a> champions’ were held to a goalless draw on their own turf just a week ago by the Kazakhstan outfit.<\/p>\n

Chants of ‘sack the board’ rang out due <\/a>to the lack of transfer activity with a \u00a340million jackpot waiting in the league phase.<\/p>\n

Celtic have overcome Kazakhstan opposition on three previous occasions in Champions League<\/a> qualifying – but have never left the country with a win.<\/p>\n

So can they do it on this occasion? Record Sport’ <\/strong>s top team makes their predictions with one score standing out.<\/p>\n

Michael Gannon<\/p>\n

This is going to be a tense night but I shouldn\u2019t be as wild as Celtic\u2019s last trip to Kazakhstan when they threatened to blow a five goal lead.<\/p>\n

Kairat are more cagey and will probably look to frustrate and stay in the game. Celtic might need to be patient but should have the quality to squeeze through.<\/p>\n

Kairat 0 Celtic 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Ryan McDonald<\/p>\n

It\u2019s 56 vs 315 in the UEFA coefficient rankings for a Champions League place – and Celtic simply can\u2019t crash out to a team ranked lower than St Johnstone. It could be a nervy night behind the sofa, but Hoops fans will be celebrating by the end of extra-time.<\/p>\n

Kairat Almaty 2 Celtic 3 (AET)<\/strong><\/p>\n

Gavin Berry<\/p>\n

The Kazakh outfit were better than expected but this is a team ranked 311th in UEFA\u2019s club rankings and if Celtic don\u2019t progress over two legs then it\u2019s a shocker.<\/p>\n

Kairat’s Valery Gromyko (L) and Celtic’s Kieran Tierney in action(Image: Craig Williamson\/SNS Group)<\/p>\n

Having had that warning at Parkhead, Brendan Rodgers will ensure his men are on it against the hosts who will be weakened with the loss of Chelsea-bound starlet Dastan Satpayev through suspension.<\/p>\n

Kairat Almaty 0 Celtic 2<\/strong><\/p>\n

Craig Swan<\/p>\n

Celtic did not play to their potential in the first leg against a tricky opponent, but if they get into their stride properly this time, they can edge this tie and make it through.<\/p>\n

Kairat 0 Celtic 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Fraser Wilson<\/p>\n

Celtic have made this a bit of a sweat if they are to avoid the disaster of missing out on the \u00a340M league phase. But there\u2019s enough experience in that side to handle the pressure and get the job done. Brendan Rodgers said we\u2019ll see a different Hoops side, in terms of performance, in Kazakhstan. It\u2019s going to be a nervy watch but Celtic should squeeze through.<\/p>\n

Kairat 0 Celtic 1<\/strong><\/p>\n

Scott Burns<\/p>\n

The tie is now on a knife edge after last week. Celtic need to pull something out. Their lack of a cutting edge is an issue, but they should be able to get over the line, even if it means going to penalties.<\/p>\n

Kairat 1 Celtic 1 (Celtic go through on penalties)<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It’s a \u00a340million shoot-out for the Hoops as they looked to return to the league phase promise landRecord…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":22720,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[76],"tags":[1191,1187,9571,19414,18,19,17,1188,132,19413],"class_list":{"0":"post-22719","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-sports","8":"tag-brendan-rodgers","9":"tag-celtic-fc","10":"tag-champions-league","11":"tag-chelsea-fc","12":"tag-eire","13":"tag-ie","14":"tag-ireland","15":"tag-scottish-premiership","16":"tag-sports","17":"tag-uefa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22719","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=22719"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/22719\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22720"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22719"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22719"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=22719"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}