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Tengrinews.kz – Almaty’s Kairat defeated Scotland’s Celtic in the Champions League playoff qualification, knocking them out of Europe’s top tournament. Tengrinews.kz gathered the Scottish reaction to this Kazakh sensation.
After the Champions League playoff draw, Celtic were considered the clear favorite against the Kazakh club. The respected portal Transfermarkt valued the Scottish squad at ten times more than Kairat’s.
Even after the first leg in Glasgow, which ended 0:0, Celtic fans were confident their team would ultimately win. All the more so since in the return match Kairat were missing their key players – goalkeeper Aleksandr Zarutskiy and 17-year-old winger Dastan Satpayev.
Despite the circumstances, Kairat managed to win in the penalty shootout, sparking a wave of disappointment among Scottish supporters.
“You should refund every fan who made this trip.”
“Every player should bow his head in shame. Let Rodgers (the coach) and the board leave.”
“Heartbreaking! Lost in a penalty shootout… I can’t believe we let the win slip away so easily. A tough night…”
“We didn’t deserve to go through this.”
“Not a single goal in 2 matches – that’s a disgrace.”
— Rusty Souness (@RustySouness) August 26, 2025
Defeat on penalties for Celtic in Almaty.#KairatCeltic | #UCL | #CelticFC🍀 pic.twitter.com/pS0qMV5WYw
— Celtic Football Club (@CelticFC) August 26, 2025
— Héfty - Capo of the Burner (@chrispacketabc) August 26, 2025
— Rusty Souness (@RustySouness) August 26, 2025
Some fans were openly angry at Kairat and Kazakhstan. Celtic’s social media pages were filled with Borat memes, a character often used by opponents of the Almaty club during this European campaign.
However, there were also more respectful comments from Celtic fans who acknowledged Kairat’s strength:
“Been seeing a lot of Celtic fans put blame on Kairat for "wasting time" or "not playing football", instead of recognizing 1) how difficult Kairat's defensive tactics made it for Celtic & 2) how poor Celtic were at finding solutions to Kairat's marking,” one wrote.
“Well done, Kairat Almaty! Celtic, you’ll never learn – you stingy vampires failed again, you have no ambition!” another fan posted.
“They deserved it. Well done. If we can’t beat them, then we don’t deserve to be in the Champions League… The Europa League is our level, maybe even the Conference League, because we are terrible. Watching Celtic is like watching paint dry,” another fan admitted.
It should be noted that Celtic’s coach Brendan Rodgers, after the match, apologized to the fans and congratulated Kairat on their historic victory.
“If you don’t score in such matches, anything can happen. It was a bad game. We wanted to return to the Champions League group stage, but we have to be honest: the Champions League demands much more. We are disappointed. No excuses. Our fans traveled a long way.
We are upset also because of them. I would like to express our gratitude to them — their efforts, their money. We should have repaid them. There were enough chances. We must congratulate Kairat. I have no doubt they will get results in the group,” Rodgers was quoted as saying by Vesti.kz.
