Travelling distance a concern for Rodgers but Celtic are strong favourites | OneFootball

Celtic TV presenter Gerry McCulloch grabbed a quick word with both Celtic Manager Brendan Rodgers and his captain Callum McGregor at training over at Lennoxtown earlier today to get some reaction on Celtic’s UEFA Champions League opponents…

Players of Kairat celebrate during third qualifying round of UEFA Champions League football match between SK Slovan Bratislava and Kairat Almaty. Bratislava, Slovakia, August 12, 2025. IMAGO / Branislav Racko

We learned last night that it would be Kairat Almaty and not Slovan Bratislava that would stand between Celtic and a £40m UEFA Champions League jackpot and while the Kazakhstan Champions are much lower ranked of the two potential opponents, Rodgers admitted he would have preferred to play Slovan Bratislava due to the distance involved in travelling to the other side of Asia to face Kairat Almaty.

“Of course, everyone would have preferred a shorter travelling distance, but they got through, they won the tie, so we’ll play the first game of our two legs and our objective is to get through,” Brendan said.  “We can really analyse them now and be prepared for the first leg next week.”

Celtic pose for a team photograph during the UEFA Champions League Qualifying Play-Offs Round First Leg match between Celtic FC and FK Astana at Celtic Park on August 16, 2017 . (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

The Celtic TV presenter reminded Brendan that he’d been in Astana during his first spell as Celtic manager when his ‘Invincible’ side faced a Champions League qualifier against Astana in summer 2017. A 5-0 victory at Celtic Park seemed to settle the tie and there seemed no problems whatsoever at the interval in Kazakhstan before it all started to get more than a little concerning as Celtic shipped three quick goals before recovering by scoring a few of our own.

Brendan certainly remembers the experience why McCulloch reminded him that the game over there was far from being straightforward.

Kieran Tierney of Celtic during the UEFA Champions League Qualifying Play-Offs Round First Leg match between Celtic FC and FK Astana at Celtic Park on August 16, 2017. (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

“No, it wasn’t. It should never have been the case, but it’s how football works,” Brendan said. “Yeah, 5-0 in the first leg, we were very good. At half-time in the second leg, I think it was 6-1, it was one each at half-time. So you’re in a really good place and then before you know it, you’ve conceded three quick goals and then the tie’s at 6-4.

“So we’ll do everything we can to make sure we get into the group stages,” the Celtic manager said.

Callum McGregor actually played in that match and will have the invaluable experience of the trip there and back with the game conditions and so on that he can share with his teammates. Again the captain will be stressing the need to get a comfortable lead to take to Kazakhstan.

“It’s going to be a tough tie,” the Celtic skipper admitted. “Obviously the travel and everything else comes into that and the preparation.

“We’ve got the home game first, and we want to try and maximise that, as we would against any opponent. But it could be even more important now that we try and do the absolute maximum to get a good result at home, and then negotiate the travel.

“It’s a tough team and we know it will be a tough tie. It’s a good tie for us but one that we’ll have to be at our best to get through. The travel and everything else that presents, it will be a tough tie, no doubt about it.

James Forrest of Celtic scores his team’s fourth goal during the UEFA Champions League Qualifying Play-Offs Round First Leg match between Celtic FC and FK Astana at Celtic Park on August 16, 2017 (Photo by Ian MacNicol/Getty Images)

“So we’ll have to go there. Hopefully, we have a lead from the first game, but we have to look after that first and foremost and then over the two legs, can we do enough to get through.”

According to the highly regard stats site ‘Football Meets Data’ Celtic has easily the best percentage change of qualifying through the play-offs for the group stages of the Champions League. But as we have found out previously football can produce shock results – just ask theRangers who were beaten in the Scottish Cup by Queen’s Park at Ibrox last season.

Celtic has a 90% chance to win the tie and reach the Champions League and the Scottish Champions are out on their own with such a high percentage rating, the nearest is Benfica who have a 68% chance of beating Fenerbahce in their play-off tie.

For those interested in theRangers progression or otherwise they have a 345 chance of denying Club Brugge a place in the Champions League Group stages. See below for all the percentage ratings.

With Celtic still waiting for replacements for Kyogo and Nicolas Kuhn and the forwards yet to score in the first two league matches, perhaps Kairat Almaty will feel if they are ever going to have any chance of beating Celtic then it’s now.

Kiarat will presumably park the bus next Wednesday and look to keep themselves in the tie for their home leg.

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