Almaty, Aug 27: The Champions League is heading to Kazakhstan for just the second time, and newcomers from Norway and Cyprus also advanced Tuesday to the elite league phase.
Kairat Almaty goalkeeper Temirlan Anarbekov saved three penalties in the shootout to lift the Kazakh champion over Celtic in the qualifying play-offs after the teams played out a second straight 0-0 draw. Almaty won the shootout 3-2.
Bodo/Glimt of Norway eased past Sturm Graz – winning 6-2 on aggregate despite a 2-1 loss in the return leg in Austria – to bring Champions League games to its stadium inside the Arctic Circle this season.
Unheralded Cypriot champion Pafos stunned Red Star Belgrade, the European champion in 1991, with an 89th-minute goal by Brazilian forward Jajá to draw 1-1 at home and advance 3-2 on aggregate.
All three winners will take their places alongside title holder Paris Saint-Germain, Real Madrid and a stellar list of European powers in the draw ceremony at Monaco on Thursday.
Kairat advanced 10 years after Astana played in the group stage as the only other Kazakh team to compete in the elite European competition.
Almaty is four time zones and thousands of kilometres east of potential opponents from England and Portugal.
Celtic, the 1967 European Cup winner, drops into the second-tier Europa League with Red Star and Sturm Graz, one year after all three played in the Champions League. (AP)
