The most successful team in the history of the UEFA Champions League, Real Madrid, head to FC Kairat Almaty in southeastern Kazakhstan on Tuesday as they host their first-ever group stage game in this competition.
This is truly a David vs Goliath story.
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Kairat qualified for the group stage of the Champions League for the first time in their history after beating Celtic on penalty kicks in the Champions League playoff round. The minnows play in the 23,800 capacity Central Stadium in the far south east of Kazakhstan on the border with Kyrgyzstan. This is the biggest day in club history.
As for Real Madrid, the 15-time European champions have made the 4,000-mile trip east with a feeling of disappointment and shock after they were hammered 5-2 by Atletico Madrid in La Liga on Saturday. Xabi Alonso’s superstars will be expected to score early and often against Kairat but we all know it doesn’t really work like that and if Real can’t break through in the first 30 minutes, it will get very interesting in Kazakhstan.
How to watch Kairat Almaty vs Real Madrid live, stream link and start time
Kick off time: 12:45pm ET Tuesday (September 30)
Venue: Almaty Ortalyk Stadion (Central Stadium) — Almaty, Kazakhstan
TV Channel/Streaming:Paramount+
Kairat Almaty team news, focus
The Kazakhstan minnows are already playing with house money after they qualified unexpectedly for the Champions League group stage. They were hammered 4-1 at Sporting Lisbon in their first-ever Champions League group stage game. Goalkeeper Temirlan Anarbekov was the star of their qualifying campaign as they won two penalty kick shootouts, but he has been out with a broken jaw. That means 18-year-old goalkeeper Sherhan Kalmurza will be very busy. Portuguese midfielder Jorginho will provide their attacking creativity.
Real Madrid team news, focus
There are plenty of injuries in defense for Alonso to deal with, as Trent Alexander-Arnold, Antonio Rudiger, Ferland Mendy, Eder Militao and Dani Carvajal all remain out. The Real head coach is likely to make plenty of changes after the embarrassing defeat to local rivals Atletico at the weekend, but Kylian Mbappe and Co. will be hungry to put this game to bed as quickly as possible.
Kairat vs Real Madrid prediction
This feels like it could be closer than most expect but Real will still get the job done with minimum fuss. Kairat 0-4 Real Madrid.