The starting lineup of Almaty's Kairat for the return leg of the third qualifying round of the 2026/27 Champions League against Bulgaria's Levski has been announced. The match will take place in Almaty, and the home team's head coach Rafael Urazbakhtin has made adjustments to the starting eleven compared to the first game, reports infohub.kz.
Compared to the first match, which took place in Sofia, the Kairat coach made two changes. Instead of Alexander Martynovich and Edmilson, Alexander Shirobokov and Damir Kasabulat will start the game.
Kairat's starting lineup is as follows: goalkeeper - Temirlan Anarbekov; defenders - Mata, Afriko, Shirobokov, Kasabulat; midfielders - Oksanen, Gustavo, Baibek; forwards - Yukkola, Gual, Mrynsky. On the bench are Kalmurza, Buch, Kurgin, Shirobokov, Tapalov, Nurgaliev, Tashbulatov, Kasabulat, Sadybekov, Tuyakbaev, Abish, Edmilson Birkurmanov, and Bekbolat.
Levski's coach Julio Velazquez, in turn, decided not to change the starting lineup that secured a victory in Sofia a week ago. The Bulgarian team will start with: goalkeeper - Vutsov; defenders - Sentelles, Serafimov, Dimitrov, Aldair; midfielders - Mubarik, Serginho, Trdin; forwards - Bala, Reynaldo, Oko-Flex. Substitutes: Vladimirov, Lukov, Santos, Maicon, Makun, Mitkov, Sula, Perea, Stoyanchov, Kuso, Raichev.
Recall that the first game in Sofia ended with a 1:0 victory for Levski. The Bulgarian club scored the only goal in the 92nd minute: after a shot by Serginho, the ball ricocheted off Martynovich into the net of Temirlan Anarbekov.
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 qualifying, where they will meet either another Greek club PAOK or Belgium's Anderlecht.