Almaty's Kairat defeated Cyprus's Omonia 6-5 on penalties in the second qualifying round of the 2026/27 Champions League, advancing to the third round after a 1-0 win that forced extra time and penalties (first leg 0-1), reports infohub.kz.
Both coaching staffs were forced to make changes. Norwegian Henning Berg had to compensate for the absence of Hungarian Loic Nego, sent off in the first leg. Rafael Urazbakhtin faced a tougher task: Portuguese striker Jorginho, the team's top scorer with nine goals in all competitions, picked up an injury against Ordabasy.
After some probing, Kairat nearly scored in the 18th minute when Oiva Jukola headed the ball off the crossbar. The visitors responded in the 22nd minute with a shot from Mhlali Myambe that went high. In the 26th minute, Omonia forward Andronikos Kakoullis was shown a straight red card for a rough foul on Lev Kurgin.
In last year's match against Paphos, Kairat played with a man advantage for 86 minutes. A week ago in Nicosia, the Almaty side unsuccessfully tried to capitalize on extra man for nearly an hour. Today it took nine minutes. In the 37th minute, Brazilian substitute Edmilson converted a cross from Portuguese Luis Mata to make it 1-0, leveling the aggregate score.
In the second half, Kairat continued to attack. In the 50th minute, Ismail Bekbolat nearly scored after a combination with Mata and Jukola. In the 76th minute, Jaakko Oksanen had a goal disallowed for offside. In the 85th minute, Mark Gual hit the post from long range. Regular time ended 1-0, sending the match to extra time.
In the 111th minute, Senou Coulibaly received a second yellow card, leaving Omonia with nine men. With an 11-vs-9 advantage, the hosts couldn't score: in the 115th minute, Mansur Birkurmanov missed a great chance. In the penalty shootout, luck favored Kairat. Temirlan Anarbekov, a penalty-saving specialist, stopped two Cypriot attempts, allowing the hosts to win 6-5.
To reach the Champions League group stage, Kairat must get through four qualifying rounds. They beat Montenegro's Sutjeska in the first round and Omonia in the second. In the third round, they will face either Bulgaria's Levski or Romania's Universitatea. By beating Omonia, Kairat has already secured a place in the Conference League group stage.
Twenty-nine teams receive automatic berths in the Champions League league phase, with seven more determined through qualifying. Some eliminated teams will continue in the Europa League and Conference League. The league phase matches will take place from September 8 to January 27 next year. The 2026/27 Champions League final will be held on June 5, 2027, at the Metropolitano Stadium in Madrid. Current trophy holder Paris Saint-Germain defeated Arsenal on penalties in the final on May 30 in Budapest.
Tomorrow, Kazakhstan Cup holder Tobol will continue its European campaign with a home Conference League qualifying match against Lithuania's Panevėžys.