Kairat Almaty will forever be a stain on Celtic.
Those two performances from Brendan Rodgers’ side against the rising minnows will probably be the lasting memory of the soon-to-be departing Celtic boss in the Champions League.
Yes, the champions of Scotland will be aiming to return to the elite next season, but Rodgers might not be in Glasgow, with his contract running out at the end of the campaign.
But whilst Celtic compete in the Europa League ahead of their home meeting against Sturm Graz on Thursday evening, Kairat Almaty are further proving what an embarrassing job the Hoops did during their qualifiers.
Photo by RUSLAN PRYANIKOV/AFP via Getty ImagesKairat Almaty fail to beat fellow minnows Pafos in the Champions League
Kairat’s opening two Champions League matches have seen them lose 4-1 to Sporting Lisbon and then concede five at home to Real Madrid.
That’s no bother, and understandable. But Kairat are minnows, and on Tuesday evening, they failed to beat a fellow minnow team, who were at a disadvantage for most of the match.
Pafos are the Cyprus champions, and just like Kairat, this is their first time in Europe’s elite competition.
After four minutes in Kazakhstan, Pafos were down to ten men when Joao Correia was sent off, but despite Kairat having the man advantage for the majority of the game, they still couldn’t capitalise.
Not only did Kairat fail to win, but they couldn’t find the back of the net, with Pafos’ Vlad Dragomir even having a goal ruled out towards the end for offside.
Pafos’ chances created compared to Celtic’s
This XG and modern way of looking at stats does wind up certain people, but it tells an interesting tale of Celtic.
Rodgers’ men not only embarrassed themselves by not beating Kairat, but they couldn’t even score, not even with extra time in Kazakhstan.
What’s even worse is that Pafos, with ten men, created a bigger XG than Celtic against Kairat.
Celtic’s shots in Almaty vs Kairat: 11On target: 5XG: 1.17Pafos’ shots in Almaty vs Kairat: 9On target: 6XG: 1.84