Champions League preview: Arsenal vs Kairat

Here's the brilliant Tim Cooper with his Arsenal vs Kairat preview as the Gunners gear up to face Champions League opponents from Kazakhstan 

Our least-known opponents, making their first ever appearance in the Champions League proper, come from Kazakhstan.

The only reason they’re in it is because, after scraping through three previous qualifying rounds and two 0-0 draws against Celtic in the fourth one, they beat Brendan Rogers’ team on penalties to earn the biggest prize - in terms of prestige and hard cash - in their history.

We will be breathing a big sigh of relief that we drew them at home, thus avoiding a long and potentially draining 8,500-mile round trip to a city on the nation’s western fringes, close to the China border. Unlike Real Madrid, who had to play them away.

As for their football, it’s an unknown quantity (and quality), though they’ve won the Kazakh League - founded after independence from the Soviet Union in 1992 - four times.

Their only previous Champions League experience came in qualifiers in 2019, 2020 and 2021, and their only European trophy - if you can call it that - came in 1972 when they won a long-forgotten friendly tournament called the European Railworks Cup.

What else can we tell you?

They play in yellow-and-black striped shirts, black shorts and black socks; their squad includes a Portuguese midfielder called Jorginho (not that one) and three Brazilian forwards, Ricardinho, Edmilson and Joao Paolo - last season’s top scorer with 26 goals. So I guess he’s the one to watch they come to London.

Trivia fact: The Kairat ground’s location in the centre of Almaty was chosen by Soviet president Leonid Brezhnev himself and the stadium, built in 1956 when Kairat played in the Soviet Top League, is a scaled-down replica of the Russia’s natdional stadium Luzhniky Olympic Stadium in Moscow.

Tim Cooper Champions League focus series

Champions League preview: Inter Milan vs Arsenal

Ahead of Arsenal's Champions League trip to Belgium: Focus on Club Brugge

It's time Arsenal revenged Bayern Munich after those 5-1 humiliations

Spotlight on Slavia Prague ahead of Arsenal's Champions League trip to the Czech Republic

Focus on Arsenal's Champions League opponents Olympiacos

Passion, pride and Lion Tamers: A look at Athletic Club ahead of their Champions League clash with Arsenal in Bilbao

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