Celtic should need no excuses against Kairat Almaty

Now that we know our opponents who stand between us and a place in the UEFA Champions League group stages for the fourth consecutive season, we can perhaps start to look forward, as we have, in my opinion, superb chance of mixing with the elite of Europe once again by defeating Kairat Almaty.

The Kazakhstan champions are the side who Brendan Rodgers and his side have to get past in order to qualify, and with all due respect to the Kazakh league leaders, they are a team that we should be looking to eliminate with a minimum of fuss.

Of course we wont completely write Kairat Almaty off and will give them our full respect, but after watching Kairat just put out another average side in Slovan Bratislava, we should feel very confident in ourselves going into the tie that is worth at least £40m to Celtic.

We’re at home for the first leg and with the backing of the home crowd we should be looking to head over to Kazakhstan with at two or three goal lead. The travelling distance is long with the round-trip being over 7000 miles.

Kairat’s record on the road is not great, apart from last night when they got through on penalties after losing the match 1-0. They are a team who don’t travel well and the atmosphere at Celtic Park may well be daunting for them. Their previous results in this year’s qualifiers suggests that Celtic can effectively settle the tie next Wednesday night. .

However at home they are a different proposition, but even then we should have nothing to fear, and there is simply no excuses for not advancing. If Celtic can build a lead then their home form will not be a factor, especially as Celtic’s defence is looking rock-solid at the moment.

Celtic today released ticketing details for the match next Wednesday night against Kairat Almaty.

Celtic are back in European action this month, with a coveted spot in the UCL league phase up for grabs as they face FC Kairat of Kazakhstan in the play-off round. The first play-off tie takes place at Celtic Park on Wednesday, 20 August (kick-off 8pm). We’ve been here before and we can do it again – be there to cheer the Bhoys on to victory and to help create that famous Paradise atmosphere.

Be there for the atmosphere, for the moments and for the dream.