The Champions League has reached the third qualifying round stage, with the rich rewards of the league phase that little bit closer for Kairat and Slovan Bratislava who meet on Wednesday.
This is shaping up to be a really competitive tie, with home advantage likely to be key. Kairat have certainly made best use of that so far in the competition, with convincing home victories to nil against NK Olimpija Ljubljana and KuPS helping them through to this stage, despite their failure to win either away leg.
The current Kazakh champions reached the Conference League group stage in the 2021/22 season, but they’ve never made it into the league or group phase in either of Europe’s two premier club competitions.
Slovan Bratislava, by contrast, were surprise qualifiers for the inaugural league phase of the Champions League last term. They needed to progress through four qualifying rounds to reach that point, quite a feat, although it’s fair to say they were outclassed by elite opposition after that, with defeats in all eight of their league matches.
They’ve only needed to negotiate one round to date this season, with a 4-0 home victory over Zrinjski Mostar setting up a 6-2 aggregate win.
How the bookies view it: Kazakhs favoured at home
While Slovan Bratislava are given every chance of ultimately winning the tie, Kairat are the first-leg favourites at 21/20 with Boylesports. You can back the draw at 11/5, while the visitors are priced at 23/10 to take a lead back to the Slovakian capital.
Recent head-to-head: Clubs set for first meeting
These clubs have never previously met in European competition. Slovan Bratislava last faced Kazakh opposition in qualifying for the 2011/12 Champions League when they saw off Tobol 3-1 on aggregate.
Players to watch: Kairat need to stop Strelec
The visitors have one major attacking weapon that should keep the Kairat defence on its toes, with David Strelec taking good form into this game. The Slovak international striker scored three goals across the two legs against Zrinjski Mostar in the second qualifying round.
Predicted Lineups
The home team are missing two players to long-term injuries, with Elder Santana and Joao Paulo both in the process of recovering from cruciate ligament tears. Giorgi Zaria is suspended after a red card in the last round.
Sandro Cruz is the most notable injury concern for the visitors, but major changes are not expected from the last round.
Kairat: Zarutsky, Mata, Sorokin, Martynovich, Kasabulat, Jorginho, Filio, Gromyko, Arad, Tapalov & Satpayev.
Slovan Bratislava: Takacs, Sharani, Bajrict, Kashia, Blackman, Ibrahim, Pokorny, Weiss, Tolic, Barseghyan, Strelec.
Anything else catch the eye?
Kairat have tended to start fast at home so far this season in Europe. They were 3-0 up at the break against KuPS and led 2-0 against Olimpija Ljubljana at the interval, although they didn’t add to either score.
Given that, backing Kairat/Kairat in the HT/FT result market may be worth considering at 13/5 with Boylesports, while the same bookmaker has odds of 9/4 for the first half to deliver the most goals in this match.
You can also back over 2.5 total goals at 11/10, a winning bet in each of the last six Slovan Bratislava matches including friendlies.
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