Bodo/Glimt, Kairaty, Pafos Bring Fresh Faces To Champions League

The final slots for the draw Champions League league draw are filling up and new names are securing places in the top tier of the world’s leading club competition. The draw will be held tomorrow (Thursday) in Monaco.

Kairaty Almaty eliminated Celtic Glasgow from the penalty spot to qualify for the next phase, marking the return of Kazakh football to Europe’s premier club competition, which will also see Pafos of Cyprus and Bodo/Glimt of Norway participate for the first time.

Kairat Almaty goalkeeper Temirlan Anarbekov proved to be hero for the Kazakh champions after he saved three penalties for Almaty to win the shootout 3-2 and advance to the Champions League for the first time in their history. Over two legs, Almaty and Celtic had played out two goalless draws.

Celtic Glasgow manager called the defeat a “huge blow” for the club. He said: “We showed last year the strides I felt we took, but you have to build on that. The last thing you want to do in football is manufacture your own stress, but all we can do now is look at where we’re at as a football club and decide where we want to go.

“It’s very frustrating. We showed a glimpse of what we can do at this level last season but we haven’t been able to show that over the course of these two games. It’s bitterly disappointing because we were on the right track last season, working very well and playing good football.

“So to not be in there this season is a huge blow for us. We all know the consequences if we don’t win the tie. We wanted to be in the Champions League.”

Bodo/Glimt cruised past Sturm Graz of Austria, advancing 6-2 on aggregate despite a 2-1 defeat in the second leg in Austria. The qualification is a coronation for a club that has made waves in Norway and beyond in the past couple of seasons. Cypriot champion Pafos delivered a shock of its own with an 89th-minute strike from Brazilian forward Jajá to secure a 1-1 home draw against Red Star Belgrade, European champions in 1999, and send the club through 3-2 on aggregate.

Almaty, Pafos and Almaty will join European champions Paris Saint-Germain and other continental heavyweights in the draw. The Kazakh club will step into the footsteps of FC Astana, which a decade ago, finished bottom of a group that Atletico Madrid, Galatasaray and Benfica. They did so, however, after claiming four draws, a more than respectable result for a debutant.

Insideworldfootball.com