In the first match of the third qualifying round of the 2026/27 Champions League, Almaty's Kairat narrowly lost to Bulgaria's Levski 0:1. The match took place in Sofia, with the only goal scored in stoppage time, reports infohub.kz.
The match, held on August 4, ended in a home victory thanks to a precise strike from Serginho in the second minute of added time. Compared to the return leg against Omonia, Kairat's head coach Rafael Urazbakhtin made two changes to the starting lineup: Edmilson and Olzhas Baibek started instead of Damir Kasabulat and Lev Kurgin.
Throughout the match, Levski had the upper hand. The Kazakh team did not register a single shot on target, while the Bulgarians attempted 13. Several times, goalkeeper Temirlan Anarbekov saved Almaty, and in some episodes, Julio Velázquez's men lacked precision.
Kairat played on the counter, hoping for quick breaks, but failed to create truly dangerous chances at the opponent's goal. In the closing stages of the first half, Oiva Jukkola fell in the penalty area, and the VAR team checked the incident for a possible penalty, but no grounds for a spot-kick were found.
It seemed the match would end goalless, but in stoppage time Levski struck. After Serginho's shot from outside the box, the ball deflected off Kairat captain Aleksandr Martynovich's leg and went in, setting the final score at 1:0.
The return leg will take place on August 11 and will be moved to Turkistan due to a Kanye West concert at the Central Stadium in Almaty scheduled for August 14. The winner of the Levski–Kairat tie will face Greek side AEK in the next round for a spot in the Champions League group stage. The loser will drop into the Europa League qualifiers, where they will play either PAOK or Belgium's Anderlecht.