Almaty's Kairat U19 cruised through the first round of the UEFA Youth League, thrashing Montenegro's Mladost Donja Gorica 8-1 at home in the second leg. The first meeting on September 15 also ended in a lopsided win for Zhora Harutyunyan's side — 5-0 away — so the return fixture was a formality, yet it still ended in a rout, according to infohub.kz.
UEFA YOUTH LEAGUE 2026/27. Champions Path. First round. Second leg. October 14. Kairat (Almaty, Kazakhstan) — Mladost Donja Gorica (Podgorica, Montenegro) — 8-1 (4-0). First leg — 5-0. Goals: Ismagulov, 5 (1-0), Orynbasar, 28, penalty (2-0), Trubin, 37 (3-0), Trubin, 42 (4-0), Pantic, 70 (4-1), Tashpulatov, 76 (5-1), Toleukhan, 79 (6-1), Nurzhan, 88, penalty (7-1), Zhilkaydar, 90+1 (8-1). Sent off: Nikochevic (Mladost, 87).
Already in the 5th minute, Tore Ismagulov opened the scoring after a pass from Yermukhammad Kerimkhan, who had scored the third goal back in Montenegro. On the half-hour mark, Austrian referee Arnes Talic awarded a penalty for Andrija Brnovic's foul on the same Kerimkhan, and Daulet Orynbasar converted the spot kick — 2-0. Before the break, Artur Trubin completed a brace to make it 4-0.
After the interval, the teams traded goals from defenders: Montenegrin Petar Pantic's strike was answered by Daniyar Tashpulatov. Then hosts' midfielders Abylai Toleukhan and Yerkin Nurzhan, who scored the second penalty, got on the scoresheet. Abylai Zhilkaydar set the final score at 8-1 from an Akezhan Kalikulov assist.
Unlike last season, when Kairat's youngsters played the UEFA Youth League league phase against the same opponents as the club's senior team in the Champions League, the Almaty youth side is now on the Champions Path. To reach the play-offs, they must navigate three qualifying rounds.
After Mladost, Kairat's youth team will face Hungarian side MTK on October 28 and November 4. If they win, the Almaty side will play either Maltese club Valletta, Albanian side Partizan, or Czech club Hradec Kralove on November 25 and December 9.
The draw for the UEFA Youth League round of 32 will take place on December 11 in Nyon.
The format of the UEFA Youth League is as follows. In the first stage, 86 teams are divided into two large groups. The 36 youth teams from clubs in the senior Champions League league phase go through the Champions League Path. The other 50 go through the Domestic Champions Path. From the round of 32 onwards, the paths merge.
The top 22 clubs out of 36 in the Champions League Path advance to the round of 32. At this stage, teams ranked 1st to 6th will meet opponents ranked 17th to 22nd. Clubs ranked 7th to 16th will play the eight best teams from the Champions Path.