Kairat head coach Rafael Urazbakhtin commented on the victory over Omonia and reaching the third qualifying round of the Champions League. The Almaty team won the return match on penalties, securing participation in European competitions in autumn. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
"I congratulate all Kairat fans! Their support helps us a lot. I think today's match was exciting for the fans – emotions, goals, penalties. Of course, we, the coaching staff, did not want to bring everything to a penalty shootout. Thank God it ended in our favor," Urazbakhtin said after the game.
According to the specialist, the team played confidently against the opponent even before the sending off of Omonia forward Andronikos Kakoullis in the 26th minute.
"I believe that even before the red card we acted quite competently, blocking the opponent. We analyzed the game in detail. Yes, we had little time, but we understood a lot in the theoretical sessions. We paid more attention to theoretical classes," the coach noted.
Urazbakhtin emphasized that reaching the third qualifying round guaranteed Kairat at least participation in the Conference League group stage, but the team aims for more.
"We have already secured the minimum, but we need to aim higher. We have certain goals and objectives, and we must achieve them," the head coach concluded.
Recall that regular and extra time ended with a 1:0 victory for Kairat. The only goal was scored by Edmilson in the 37th minute. Considering the result of the first match, the aggregate score became 1:1, and in the penalty shootout, the Almaty team won 6:5. The Cypriot team finished the match with nine men after red cards to Kakoullis and Senou Coulibaly.
If Kairat loses in the third qualifying round of the Champions League, they will move to the Europa League playoff round. If they fail to advance there, they will enter the Conference League group stage.
Kairat's next opponent will be Bulgarian Levski. The Sofia team eliminated Romanian Universitatea, winning at home 1:0 and drawing away 2:2. The aggregate score was 3:2.
The first match of the third qualifying round will take place in Sofia on August 4 or 5, the return match on August 11 in Turkestan.