Kairat Almaty made history by securing their first ever CL league phase qualification. The Kazakh team, 315th-ranked in Europe, eliminated Scottish giants Celtic after a goalless draw in the second leg in Almaty. Kairat won then 3:2 on penalties.

The first leg in Glasgow also ended 0:0 and Brendan Rodgers' team failed to score in the second leg. This led to an extra 30 minutes, in which no goals were scored again. In the penalty shootout, Kairat's big hero was 21-year-old goalkeeper Temirlan Anarbekov, who saved three penalty kicks.

Thus, the Almaty team advances to the league phase. The Cypriot Pafos and the Norwegian Bodo/Glimt also qualified for the league phase.

Pafos eliminated Serbian Red Star Belgrade with an aggregate score of 3:2. After winning the first match 2:1 at the "Mala Marakana", in the second leg in Cyprus the hosts fell behind after an hour of play after Mirko Ivanić's goal. A minute before the end of regular time, however, Jaja broke Zvezda's hearts and prevented extra time.

Bodo, for their part, played a protocol rematch with the Austrian Sturm Graz, after crushing the opponent 5:0 in the first leg. The return leg ended with a 2:1 home win for Sturm.

More matches are due today. The draw for the league phase will be drawn on August 28 in Monaco. | BGNES