FC Kairat embarked on a 3,500-mile trip to Glasgow after a turbulent run of matches at home and in European qualifying. A few days after edging past Slovan Bratislava, Kairat surrendered a 2-0 lead to Yelimay, losing 3-2 and relinquishing top spot in the Kazakhstan Premier League; it was their first home defeat in eight games. Head coach Rafael Urakhtin condemned the mistakes as childish and demanded no grieving, instructing the squad to fly to Scotland for the next match. Their qualifying campaign included overcoming Olimpija, recovering from two goals down against KuPS, and winning a shoot-out in Bratislava after trailing at half-time.
A few days after scraping past Slovakia's Slovan Bratislava to set up a Champions League play-off against Celtic, they tossed away a 2-0 lead against Yelimay, losing 3-2 and with it their place at the top of the Kazakhstan Premier League. It was their first home defeat in eight games and that ringing was brought on by the words of head coach Rafael Urakhtin, who was furious at such a capitulation with just two months left of the Kazakh season.
It has already been a fairly arduous adventure on the pitch for the reigning champions of a country that Celtic have got to know well over the last decade or so. Kairat overcame Slovenians Olimpija before coming from two goals down at the midway point of the tie in the second qualifying round against Finnish side KuPS. Then came the drama in Bratislava, as they emerged via a shoot-out amidst a raucous atmosphere in the Slovakian capital after going behind in the first half.
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