Celtic fired bullish Champions League warning by confident Kairat boss as 12 year hex bodes well for Kazakhs
Confident Kairat Almaty boss Rafael Urazbakhtin reckons his players have a 'great chance' of stunning Celtic after he was handed a huge vote of confidence by his board.
The Hoops face a gruelling trip to central Asia to face Kairat after they downed Slovan Bratislava on penalties and became the first team from Kazakhstan to reach the Champions League playoffs.
It was a much-needed win for boss Urazbakhtin after Kairat chairman Kairat Boranbayev was forced to give assurances his manager's job was safe ahead of the tie.
And Urazbakhtin is determined to gain a famous win against the Hoops.
He said: "I told the players they must remember this happy moment. We are making history. I urged them to keep their hunger and preserve it for the next round.
"We now have a great chance of making some noise in Europe."
It was a huge triumph for Urazbakhtin after Kairat chief Boranbayev was quizzed about his future this week.
He said: "Of course we trust Rafael Urazbakhtin. He has worked hard as our head coach and continues his work. There are no discussions about his future.
"Any stories suggesting otherwise are made up.
"Rafael has been with us for nine years. He started as a coach at the children's academy, gradually went through all the stages within the club.
"We have clear criteria for career growth for all coaches. It is built in such a way that they will continue to develop by going through all the stages at this club.
"The same thing has happened with Urazbakhtin."
When the two sides face off, Celtic will attempt to become the first Scottish team to smash a Kazakhstan hex after seven previous failures.
The Hops face a marathon 3,536-mile, 11-hour trek from Glasgow in the Champions League play-off round second leg as they bid to reach the league stage.
But Scottish clubs have a nightmare record in the former Soviet outpost in Asia and have lost on five of the seven occasions and drawn twice.
Celtic have been in Kazakhstan on three occasions, but each time it was in Astana.
In 2013, they crashed to a disastrous 2-0 defeat to Shakhter Karagandy, who had moved their game to the capital.
Three years later, Celtic did at least salvage a 1-1 draw against FC Astana, and a year later, Celtic lost 4-3 in the away match to the same opponents, although the tie was wrapped up after a 5-0 home victory.
Scotland also suffered an infamous defeat under Alex McLeish six years ago when they were destroyed 3-0 also in Astana. And three Scottish teams have also played 770 miles to the east in Almaty too.
Aberdeen lost 2-1 to Kairat Almaty ten years ago in the Europa League when a Kenny McLean goal wasn't enough for Derek McInnes' team, who could only draw 1-1 at Pittodrie in the return and were eliminated.
And Scotland Under 21s have twice played there in the past three years - they drew 2-2 in 2022 when current Celtic scout Peter Houston took charge of the team because manager Scot Gemmill was suffering from Covid in a match with floodlight failure.
Last October, they lost 3-2 at the crumbling Almaty Ortalyk Stadium despite a wonder striker from new Udinese star Lennon Miller, when a win would have seen them qualify for the Euros playoffs.
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