Almaty football club Kairat has issued an official statement on its Instagram account following its Kazakhstan Premier League (KPL) match against Astana, according to infohub.kz.
The Round 27 fixture was played in the capital and ended 1-0 in favour of the hosts. The visitors played almost the entire match a man down after an early red card for Kazakhstan midfielder Adilet Sadybekov.
At the post-match press conference, Kairat head coach Rafael Urazbakhtin limited himself to a few seconds. "I'll say one word and go. 'Shapito.' Thank you," the coach said.
Astana head coach Grigory Babayan then reacted sharply to his counterpart's remarks. The capital club's boss also accused Kairat of obstructing the postponement of a 2024 match with Astana, which was then playing in European competition.
"FC Kairat considers it necessary to respond to the statements made by FC Astana head coach Grigory Babayan after the match between the teams. First of all, we want to emphasise: claims that FC Kairat obstructed the postponement of the match with FC Astana are untrue," the Almaty club said.
The "yellow-and-blacks" stressed that the teams' Round 19 meeting in the 2024 KPL was moved from 31 August to 1 September "in accordance with established procedure."
"The decision to postpone was officially announced on 21 August 2024 due to Astana's participation in UEFA Conference League qualifying matches. Therefore, to claim that FC Kairat in any way obstructed the postponement of that fixture is incorrect," the Almaty club said.
In its statement, Kairat also recalled "facts concerning cooperation between the two clubs in 2024."
"During the period when FC Astana played matches in Almaty, FC Kairat specialists took a direct part in preparing and maintaining the pitch at Almaty's Central Stadium, providing the necessary conditions for the capital club's matches. Therefore, claims that FC Kairat did not assist Astana during its matches in Almaty are untrue," the Almaty club concluded.
After the 17 September defeat to Astana, Kairat remained second in the KPL, but its gap behind Shymkent's Ordabasy widened to four points — 57 against 61. The capital club sits third with 48 points.