Almaty's Kairat, following a 0:3 home defeat to Anderlecht, lost the away match by the same score. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

Eliminated from the Europa League, the Kazakh champions will play in the Conference League main tournament.

Experimental lineup

The heavy home defeat to the Belgians left Kairat players little chance for a full away comeback. Therefore, the lineup of the Kazakh champions in Brussels looked experimental. Moreover, Rafael Urazbakhtin decided to save the team's core for the KPL gold race. On August 31, Almaty residents face an important match in Semey.

Sherkhan Kalmurza took the place of Temirlan Anarbekov in goal. The young goalkeeper last played in European competitions 11 months ago, in a memorable match against Real Madrid. As the game showed, the guy has not lost his European cup flair. In several episodes, Sherkhan saved his partners from an inevitable goal.

Match progress

Kairat, however, did not sit back in defense. In the 24th minute, Spaniard Marc Gual with an elegant pass brought Portuguese Luis Matu one-on-one with goalkeeper Colin Coosemans. The goalkeeper won the duel of captains.

Play-off round of qualification. Return match. August 27

⚽ ANDERLECHT (Brussels, Belgium) – KAIRAT (Almaty, Kazakhstan) 3:0 (1:0). First match 3:0. Goals: Cvetković 45+2 penalty (1:0), Sikan 54 (2:0), Biancon 71 (3:0)

At the end of the first half, the hosts scored a goal into the locker room. The goal did not follow from the logic of a generally equal game. Czech Lukas Ambros took a corner, Ukrainian Danylo Sikan headed, and the ball ricocheted off Olzhas Baibek's hand into Kalmurza's hands.

After video review, Norwegian referee Espen Eskås decided that the said ricochet deserved a penalty. Serbian Mihajlo Cvetković was luckier in the duel of 19-year-olds. Kalmurza guessed the direction of the ball but did not reach it – 1:0.

In the second half, the aforementioned Sikan scored his goal. Receiving a pass on the flank from Marco Kana, the Ukrainian burst into the penalty area, sent Baibek to the buffet, and accurately shot under the crossbar – 2:0.

At the end, the guests' game completely fell apart. In the 71st minute, Frenchman Julien Biancon, responding to a corner delivery, repeated the score of the Almaty match – 3:0.

The draw for the main tournaments of the Europa League and Conference League will take place on August 28. The day before, the Champions League participants learned their opponents.