Almaty's Kairat (U19) thrashed Montenegrin club Mladost Donja Gorica 5:0 away in their opening match of the UEFA Youth League. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.

Champions Path. First round. First match

⚽ MLADOST DONJA GORICA (Podgorica, Montenegro) – KAIRAT (Almaty, Kazakhstan) 0:5 (0:3). Goals: Chernomorets 35 (0:1), Kalikulov 41 (0:2), Kerimkhan 43 (0:3), Zhilkaydar 72 (0:4), Nurbolat 90+2 (0:5).

Zhorа Arutyunyan's charges left their Montenegrin peers with no chance of a favorable outcome. Before the break, the Almaty side beat home goalkeeper Damjan Janković three times. From the 35th to the 43rd minute, Roman Chernomorets, Akezhan Kalikulov and Yermukhammad Kerimkhan scored.

In the second half, Abylai Zhilkaydar and Sanat Nurbolat turned the big score into a rout. This made the return match in Almaty a formality.

Last season and the current path

Last season, the young Kairat players played in the league phase of the Youth League against the same opponents as the club's senior teams in the Champions League. This time, the Almaty boys are following the so-called Champions Path. To reach the play-offs, they need to pass three qualifying rounds.

After Mladost, Kairat's youth team will face Hungarian MTK on October 28 and November 4. If they win, the Almaty side will play either Maltese Valletta, Albanian Partizan or Czech club Hradec Králové on November 25 and December 9.

The draw for the Round of 32 will take place on December 11 in Nyon.

Format of the UEFA Youth League

The format of the UEFA Youth League is as follows. In the first stage, 86 teams are divided into two large groups. 36 youth teams from clubs in the league phase of the senior Champions League follow the Champions League Path. The other 50 follow the Domestic Champions Path. Starting from the Round of 32, the paths merge.

The 22 best clubs out of the 36 in the Champions League Path advance to the Round of 32. At this stage, teams ranked 1st to 6th will meet opponents ranked 17th to 22nd. And clubs ranked 7th to 16th will play the eight best teams of the Champions Path.