Celtic to face Kairat in Champions League playoff as nightmare 7000 mile trip awaits
Kairat Almaty will face Celtic in their shoot-out for the £40million Champions League jackpot after seeing off Slovan Bratislava.
And it leaves Brendan Rodgers preparing his side for a mammoth trip across the globe to secure a spot in Europe's elite competition.
The Kazakhstan league leaders took a 1-0 advantage into the second leg in Slovakia after Dastan Satpaev stepped up to bag the winner from 12 yards after Kairat were awarded a penalty kick in the final seconds of the showdown.
However, Slovan would cancel that out on the night after Robert Mak opened the scoring.
An even contest would go all the way to penalties with Alen Mustafic and Tigran Barseghyan being denied for Slovan to allow Jorginho to send Kairat into the playoff showdown for riches of Europe's elite competition.
The first leg is at Celtic Park on August 20, while the return fixture will take place on August 26.
But the Hoops now face the massive journey to Almaty which will cover over 7000 mile round trip to Kazakhstan.
Celtic have already opted against postponing their Scottish Premiership match against Livingston, ahead of their crucial second leg Champions League qualifier.
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