There are several fixtures to be played in UEFA Champions League qualifying on Wednesday the 21st of July including the meeting between Kairat Almaty and FK Crvena Zvezda.
The first leg of this tie will take place at the Ortalıq Stadion in Kazakhstan, giving Kairat Almaty the home advantage, something they will be keen to use before travelling to Belgrade next week.
The domestic league season is well underway in Kazakhstan and Kairat Almaty find themselves in third place, 5 points off the leaders having played 19 games.
The most recent fixture came in the group stage of the cup and Kairat Almaty lost the match 2-0 at home against Kaspiy but it is fair to say they had one eye on this fixture.
That was the first defeat in 12 games for Kairat Almaty and they have already played two fixtures in Champions League qualifying this season. They started in the first qualifying round and having held Maccabi Haifa to a 1-1 draw in Israel, Kairat Almaty won the home leg 2-0 to progress to this stage of the qualifying process.
You must go back to 2005 to find the last time Kairat Almaty attempted to qualify for the group stage of the Champions League and they were eliminated at the first qualifying round by FC Petržalka.
Kairat Almaty were in the qualifying rounds for the Europa League last season but were eliminated at the second round stage, so their record in European competition is not great.
FK Crvena Zvezda started their domestic campaign on the weekend and they were held to a 0-0 draw at home by Vojvodina. It was not ideal preparation for this fixture but keeping a clean sheet was a good sign ahead of the game.
FK Crvena Zvezda were superb in the 2020/21 Serbian SuperLiga as they remained undefeated throughout the whole season to win the title. You must go back 49 matches, including friendly games, to find the last time FK Crvena Zvezda suffered a defeat and that was in the Europa League against Hoffenheim.
They twice played AC Milan in the group stage of the Europa League last season and were undefeated.
FK Crvena Zvezda went out at the third qualifying round of the Champions League last season, losing on penalties following a 1-1 draw against Omonia Nicosia in Cyprus.
Looking ahead to the team news and Kairat Almaty will be relying on the experience of former Brazilian international striker Vágner Love in attack. Artur Shushenachev is a good young prospect who has been scoring goals this season.
FK Crvena Zvezda have Milan Pavkov in attack, who has experience of scoring goals in the Champions League group stage. Defender, Aleksandar Dragović, played for Austria at the European Championship but featured on the weekend so should start this match.
This is expected to be a tightly fought encounter and Forebet predicts that this game will end in a high-scoring draw.