Celtic must win in Almaty to give Board ‘get out of jail free’ card

The prize money of £40m on offer was put at risk least midweek when Brendan Rodgers was forced to field a weakened front-line and the result was a goalless draw against a side Celtic should have been able to defeat convincingly.

Oue weakened team clearly underperformed against the Kazakh champions at Celtic Park there’s no getting away from that, but the tie is still very much in the balance and winning over the 90, or 120 minutes or even spot kicks isn’t out our reach. Although please no penalties as that’s exactly how Kairat reached this stage showing composure and ruthlessness in firing their spot-kicks into the Slovan Bratislava net.

Did we underestimate Kairat going into the tie as their manager claimed? From a supporter point of view I’d say yes, but from a manager and player point of view, absolutely not. Yet had Celtic been as strong as they were in last season’s competition then the result would have been different. If only Brendan Rodgers or even the Celtic fan media had alerted the Board of the need to sign a replacement striker for Kyogo or replacement wingers for Kuhn and the injured Jota.

Our players maybe had a lack of knowledge about their Kazakh opponents, but after coming face-to-face last Wednesday night they will be better prepared and equipped that’s for sure.

We’ve never won in Kazakhstan yes, but tonight is the night of set that straight. We have the players capable of pulling off a win against a side who will now be weakened by the loss of a number of key players.

Let’s have some confidence heading into the game, we are more than capable of winning on the night and advancing to the group stage for the fourth consecutive season. And we can celebrate by praising our elite manager, and our players then let the board know that they’ve used their last get out of jail free card. This summer has been entirely unacceptable and there can be absolutely no excuses regardless of tonight’s result.