Kairat clear Celtic red tape but suffer a different Champions League blow ahead of Parkhead showdown
Key midfielder Valery Gromyko will be absent for Kairat Almaty's Champions League showdown in Glasgow after he collected a suspension.
But there's good news for the Kazakh side as two of their star men were granted work permits for their trip to Scotland.
They face Celtic £40 million shoot-out for a place in the league phase of the new-look competition, with Premiership champions facing a gruelling trip to the second leg in ten days time.
But Kairat will have to do without former Torpedo Moscow and 25-times capped Belarus international Gromyko in Glasgow after UEFA confirmed he is suspended for the Parkhead clash.
However, they have been granted UK visas for Russian international defender Yegor Sorokin and Belarus international Alyaksandr Martynovich after fears they would miss out because of red tape.
Kairat sports director Askar Yesimov said: "All of our players have now received visas.
"We started working on this issue even before the return match with Slovan Bratislava because we believed that we would advance further.
"Our Football Association and the Kazakhstan Ministry of Tourism and Sports have done a great job. UEFA also took control of the situation, so there were no problems.
"However, we have been informed by UEFA that Valery Gromyko cannot play in the first leg due to an accumulation of yellow cards."
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