Celtic drew 0-0 with Kairat Almaty in the first leg of the Champions League play-off at Celtic Park, leaving qualification alive but unsettled ahead of the away tie in Kazakhstan. Kairat defended with discipline and organisation, repelling goalbound chances including Edmilson's header which Kieran Tierney cleared and an Alyaksandr Martynovich effort ruled out for offside. Celtic suffered the loss of Alistair Johnston to injury and saw James Forrest hit the post and Daizen Maeda miss a stoppage-time chance. Celtic dominated territory and set-piece counts but produced low xG (0.44) and only two shots on target.
Having asserted themselves from the off, Celtic were well-contained by Kairat, who saw Edmilson's goal-bound header cleared by Kieran Tierney at the back post. Celtic then thought they had fallen behind in the 11th minute after Alyaksandr Martynovich had the ball in the back of the net, but the goal was rightly ruled out for offside. The Scottish champions struggled to break a resilient Kairat down, with the Bhoys dealt a blow after the half-hour mark when Alistair Johnston was stretchered off with an injury.
Celtic improved after the break, with James Forrest seeing his close-range effort clawed onto the post by Aleksandr Zarutskiy, with that opportunity being the catalyst for a barrage from the home side. While the Celts delivered a much-improved second-half display, with Daizen Maeda presented with a golden opportunity to put Celtic a goal to the good in stoppage time, the Bhoys' attacking attempts were largely thwarted and smothered by Kairat, whose discipline and organisation ensured the deadlock remained unbroken.
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