Celtic

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter in Almaty

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With few, if any, direct flights to Almaty in Kazakhstan from the UK, this was always going to be a long and tiring journey for any Celtic fan looking to follow their team as they seek another Champions League campaign.

However, there are various routes to be found. Frankfurt from either Edinburgh or Glasgow is one of those routes before flying direct to Almaty with a total flight time of around ten hours.

I travelled from Edinburgh via Istanbul and after a three-hour stop in Turkey, I was able to jump on a direct flight straight to Almaty. The total travel time was around 15 hours with arrival at 03:40 local time.

Almaty is a fairly modern city, with temperatures during the day in the mid-30s. It explains why kick-off for the second leg is at 21:45 local time to ensure the heat will have relented somewhat.

The stadium capacity is around 23,000 and tickets were snapped up in just over an hour given the enormity of this game for Kairat.

Only a few hundred fans have made the near 8,500 miles round trip from Glasgow. It is a long way to come but well worth it if Celtic are to make it through to the Champions League proper.

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Watch Sportscene pundit Steven Naismith analyse Celtic's start to the season, their performance against Livingston on Saturday and a lack of transfer business.

Brian McLauchlin
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter in Almaty

Image source, SNS

Kairat Almaty hope to add to the "negative atmosphere around Celtic" but head coach Rafael Urazbakhtin is expecting a strong response from Brendan Rodgers' side.

Celtic are in Kazakhstan for the second leg of their Champions League play-off after a 0-0 draw in Glasgow, during which fans vented frustration over the tepid display and a lack of significant transfer activity over the summer.

"Celtic players may have underestimated us at home," said Urazbakhtin.

"Now they will look at our game in a different way. I think they will have a different motivation and attitude.

"Yes, there is a negative atmosphere around Celtic but I think this is a team of high-level players. I think they are used to dealing with such issues.

"They understand that everything depends on them. We also think that everything depends on us.

"I don't think there is a bigger pressure on Celtic than on our team. We will try to get to the group stage. Our task is to make it happen, to do everything we can."

Kairat, aiming to become just the second Kazakh side to get through Champions League qualifying, will be without goalkeeper Alexander Zarutsky, who was injured at Celtic Park, and suspended Chelsea-bound midfielder Dastan Satpayev.

No Scottish team has won in Kazakhstan before.

The best Celtic have done is a draw with Astana, while they lost to the same opponents and Shakhter Karagandy, although they progressed in each tie.

Aberdeen were beaten by Kairat 10 years ago, while there was humbling 3-0 loss for the national side in 2019.

"It's a story that the Scottish teams did not play so well here," said Urazbakhtin. "But it's all in the past.

"You need to live in the present. We understand that everything will be decided tomorrow."

Jonathan Sutherland
Sportscene presenter

Much-changed Celtic swept aside Livingston on Saturday and have two players in my team of the week as a result.

Dane Murray was certainly not overworked but the youngster is taking his opportunity and looks assured in the starting XI.

Benjamin Nygren delivered his best performance in a Celtic shirt.

All the talk might be of Celtic transfer disappointment thus far but the Sweden international looks like another shrewd acquisition by the club.

Watch highlights as much-changed Celtic dispatch Livingston in the Scottish Premiership.

Michel-Ange Balikwisha was given an emotional send-off by fans and his Royal Antwerp team-mates on Sunday as the winger gets set to join Celtic in a £5m deal. (Scottish Sun), external

Bolton Wanderers are not giving up on top transfer target Johnny Kenny and are planning one final bid to try and get a deal over the line for the Celtic striker. (Alan Nixon / Patreon), external

Jamie Vardy, linked with Celtic, is "an incredible striker that would make any team better", says the Scottish champions' goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, who played with the 38-year-old at Leicester City. (Scottish Sun), external

Leicester City and Pisa lead the way in the race to sign Celtic-linked Calvin Stengs from Feyenoord. (De Telegraaf - in Dutch), external

We asked for your views on Celtic's 3-0 win against Livingston.

Here's what some of you said:

Anon: An excellent result considering the circumstances, we need to keep our focus on the domestic league and cups; here's hoping for a similar result on Tuesday, we should be capable of achieving a result in Kazakhstan!

Chris: Brendan Rodgers now has a dilemma on his hands. He rested eight players in order to prepare for Tuesday, however he needs to give serious consideration whether to offer starting positions to either Shin Yamada or Johnny Kenny up front, both offer more than Adam Idah. Yang Hyun-Jun offers more than James Forrest and should start on Tuesday. Dane Murray should also partner Cameron Carter-Vickers in central defence as Liam Scales does not fill me with confidence.

Ray: Improved showing against Livingston with Benjamin Nygren stepping up and Hayato Inamura showing he has something to offer despite missing out on the Champions League squad. It's win or bust now on Tuesday.

Denis: When you're up against a team that's not interested in actually playing football, it will be hard for even the most skilled players. It's all about wearing them down and we had the skill.

A much-changed Celtic side delivered the perfect Champions League send-off, as Brendan Rodgers' side head to Kazakhstan in search of a place in the Champions League.

Three goals in 20 second-half minutes blew away Livingston's stubborn resistance, with new Swedish signing Benjamin Nygren grabbing a double before Irish striker Johnny Kenny smashed home his first goal at Celtic Park.

Read the match report here

Have your say on the game

Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers: "Very pleased. I thought it was a really good performance.

"We should've been ahead by half-time. Our patience was important. The crowd could see what we were trying to do. The second half, they get their reward for that.

"I thought that Benji [Nygren] was the standout player. It's why we brought him to the club. He wants to score goals, he can score goals."

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Rapid Vienna have renegotiated terms on a permanent £1.3m deal for Celtic winger Marco Tilio. (Sky Sports), external

Celtic representatives are in Belgium to conclude a deal for Royal Antwerp winger Michel-Ange Balikwisha. (Sacha Tavolieri on X), external

Royal Antwerp head coach Stef Wils admits he is surprised that Celtic target Michel Ange-Balikwisha is still at the club. (Daily Record), external

A Dundee move for Celtic right-back Colby Donovan, 18, is in the balance after an injury to Alistair Johnston. (The Courier - subscription required), external

Plymouth Argyle have ended their interest in taking Celtic centre-back Stephen Welsh on loan after signing Mathias Ross. (Anthony Joseph on X), external

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Celtic have lost Alistair Johnston (hamstring) for about 12 weeks while Auston Trusty (foot) is also ruled out.

Adam Idah (knee) is a doubt while Jota (knee) is a long-term absentee.

Livingston left-back Adam Montgomery has recovered from a muscle injury but cannot face his parent club.

Danny Wilson and Graham Carey remain out alongside longer-term absentees Cammy Kerr and Aidan Denholm while Cristian Montano is pushing to be available.

Charlotte Cohen
BBC Sport Scotland

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Celtic goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel is urging supporters to be "patient" amid a lack of transfer business.

The Parkhead club have added seven new faces this summer but only two - Benjamin Nygren and Kieran Tierney - have become regulars in the starting XI.

Right-back Alistair Johnston is now out for three months with a hamstring injury suffered in the 0-0 draw with Kairat Almaty in the first leg of the Champions League play-off on Wednesday night.

Manager Brendan Rodgers also has fitness concerns over striker Adam Idah and centre-back Auston Trusty and admits he has played forward Daizen Maeda "a little bit more than we would have liked".

Schmeichel said: "Our biggest strength is our support.

"The passion of the fans here is unrivalled and I understand their frustration but what you've got to realise is football is not as simple and spending and buying.

"I have every faith the club is doing everything they can to progress and strengthen but football isn't that easy.

"I understand the impatience of it. We all want instant success, we all want things here and now but for us as players we've got to go and do our job.

"When I look at the quality in the dressing room I think we've got more than enough. Any additions that do or don't come that's up to them [the board]. I have full confidence in them.

"There's a reason Celtic have been successful for such a long period of time because they do know what they're doing. I think a bit of patience and we'll see."

Charlotte Cohen
BBC Sport Scotland

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Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers has been speaking to the media as his side prepare to face Livingston on Saturday.

Here are the main points:

• Alistair Johnston will be out for "about 12 weeks" with a hamstring injury he suffered in Wednesday's 0-0 draw against Kairat.

• Although "disappointing", the manager says Johnston's absence "provides an opportunity" for someone to step up and mentions youngster Colby Donovan who could make the jump to the first-team squad.

• While Rodgers' "first look" will be internal, he didn't explicitly rule out a potential new signing at right-back.

• Rodgers says there is "absolutely no chance" of him walking away from the Celtic job this term, adding that he "doesn't want to think about a new contract" now that the season has begun.

• Rodgers stresses "there's certainly no conflict" between himself and the Celtic board.

• On the goalless draw with Kairat in the Champions League qualifier, Rodgers insists his side "still have a big chance of qualification" and says he's had to explain to newer players that 0-0 "will always feel like a disaster" at Celtic.

• Rodgers says there's no update on new arrivals but Marco Tilio - linked with a move to Rapid Vienna, external - will be leaving the club.

• The Celtic boss is "really looking forward to seeing David Martindale" when Livi travel to Parkhead on Saturday and expects the West Lothian side to "make things difficult".

• Rodgers also reveals both Adam Idah and Auston Trusty have been struggling with injuries and will be unavailable this weekend while Trusty could be out for a bit longer.

• Daizen Maeda, although "stiff and crampy" is "okay" but Rodgers admits he's had to utilise the winger "more than we would have liked".

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Former Dundee United and Hearts manager Robbie Neilson says Celtic's desired transfer business likely depends on getting into the Champions League proper.

Brendan Rodgers' side drew 0-0 at Parkhead against Kazakh champions Kairat on Wednesday, meaning they must now win in Asia next week in order to reach the league stage.

Rodgers has continuously expressed his desire for additions this summer, but has been left frustrated by a lack of first-team arrivals.

"Not getting into the Champions League guaranteed is affecting the recruitment," Neilson told the BBC's Scottish Football Podcast.

"Any top player they are looking at at the moment is probably waiting to see if they're guaranteed Champions League football.

"As soon as Celtic can guarantee that, I expect them to put the funds in and sign three, four, five top, top players to give them a chance to compete in the Champions League."

Fans called for the club's board to be sacked during the goalless draw with Kairat, as frustrations build over a perceived lack of ambition.

"Do you gamble or do you wait for security?" Neilson said. "It looks to me from the outside that the Celtic board are looking for that security, which then allows them to then spend the money that's coming in but also get better players.

"At the moment there'll be guys sitting there that they're probably speaking to and they're waiting and saying, 'well if you make the Champions League, I'll come to the club because one, I'll probably get more money coming in but I'll also get more exposure to then get the next move'."

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• Celtic have won their past eight meetings with Livingston in all competitions, scoring 2+ goals each time and keeping a clean sheet in five of them.

• Livingston have never won away to Celtic in 21 visits in all competitions (D3 L18). Celtic have only faced Dumbarton more times at home in their history without ever losing (26).

• Celtic have won both of their league games this season without conceding. The Hoops have won and kept a clean sheet in each of the first three games of a league campaign six times previously: 1906-07, 1970-71, 1986-87, 2001-02, 2010-11 and 2024-25.

• Livingston have won just one of their past 28 away games in the Scottish Premiership (D4 L23), failing to win any of their latest 18 (D4 L14) since a 3-2 victory at Hibernian in August 2023.

• Livingston are the joint top scorers in the opening two matches of this season's Scottish Premiership (five goals, level with Hearts), while their expected goals tally of 3.4 is the outright highest in the competition so far.

Celtic are ramping up their pursuit of Go Ahead Eagles attacking midfielder Jakob Breum, with the Dutch club seeking at least £5m for the Denmark U21 international. (Sky Sports), external

Go Ahead Eagles will hold firm on their £6m valuation of Celtic target Jakob Breum and the price tag is likely to increase if the Parkhead club reach the group stage of the Champions League. (The Herald - subscription required), external

Celtic are pursuing a deal for Royal Antwerp winger Michel-Ange Balikwisha and a fee in the region of £5m will be enough to secure the 24-year-old. (Sky Sports), external

Michel-Ange Balikwisha is a "stone's throw" from joining Celtic after Royal Antwerp signed Marwan Al-Sahafi from Al-Ittihad as a replacement. (Voetbal Primeur - in Dutch), external

Celtic are in the market for two wingers, a striker and a left-back before the 1 September deadline and may be forced into the market for a right-back depending on the severity of Alistair Johnston's hamstring injury. (Sky Sports), external

Image source, Getty Images

Kheredine Idessane
BBC Sport Scotland Senior Reporter

Image source, SNS

There are one or two people in the Celtic boardroom who clearly love a good game of cards. Their poker face is about to get tested to the limit, however, and there's a real chance they've overestimated their hand.

The gamble? The current Celtic squad should be good enough to negotiate one round of Champions League qualifying, from the relative security of the 'champions' path'.

When Kazakh champions Kairat Almaty came out of the hat the other week, a collective grin broke out from some of a Celtic persuasion, with the odd Borat meme thrown in for good measure.

They're not laughing now, and neither are the players at the table.

The stakes have been raised to £40m with the Uefa dealer shuffling the deck one final time. Celtic's money men could have gone 'all in' earlier in the game. Instead, they're trying to bluff their way to Europe's top table with a hand they view as good enough to win.

They might be right, but big questions remain. Why take the risk, with well over £60m sitting in the bank and a further £15m-plus in the post after the sale of Nicolas Kuhn to Como?

When star striker Kyogo Furuhashi was allowed to leave at the turn of the year, why wasn't a replacement already lined up and how on earth can the club still be searching for his successor eight months later?

Why has history been allowed to repeat itself?

Remember Santa being booed and furious fans waving their wallets at shell-shocked directors in Celtic Park's main stand? December 2023, months after a poor transfer window, followed the second coming of Brendan Rodgers. That mini-crisis was overcome and the club appeared to go from strength to strength.

The Northern Irishman delivered four trophies in two seasons, adding to clear progression in the Champions League.

Which begs another awkward question: why hasn't he been offered a new contract?

It speaks to much of the current recruitment inertia. Why on earth would the purse strings be loosened for a manager in the final few months of his tenure, whose players might not be to the taste of a potential incomer next summer?

Is that part of the overall gamble? That even a frustrated Rodgers, who might be assessing his next managerial move, can get enough of a tune out of an already expensively assembled squad to get past the champions of Kazakhstan?

Again, the powerbrokers might be right. On the one hand, you have to tip your hat at the way they've held their nerve amid pleadings from the manager and fury from some in the stands.

On the other hand, was such a high-stakes gamble really necessary when, had they gone after two or three targets with real intent to deliver, they could have made the journey to the promised land far less perilous and eminently less nerve-racking?

It all adds to the drama, of course. "Sack the board," some supporters shouted. A tad premature, given a win in Almaty next week gets Celtic back to Europe's top table.

Celtic are betting the house that their manager has an ace up his sleeve for the return leg. With £40m worth of chips on the table, their bluff is about to be called.

What do Celtic fans make of the 0-0 Champions League play-off first-leg draw with Kairat Almaty - during which chants of "sack the board" rang out from some of the home support - and the club's transfer strategy this summer?

Jack Herrall
BBC Sport Scotland

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Adam Idah paid the price for Celtic's insipid first-half showing against Kairat as the striker struggles to live up to his weighty £9m transfer fee.

Idah was hooked at half-time of the goalless home draw with the Kazakh side in the Champions League play-off that leaves Celtic's hopes of progression in the balance.

The 24-year-old forward had only 12 touches in the opening 45 minutes - none of them inside the opposition box. He won only one of his three tackles, was dispossessed once, and failed to muster a shot on goal.

His lack of attacking impetus, impact and movement led to manager Rodgers admitting a change had to be made.

"There's no rocket science in it. It's all hard work and preparation and all that leads to confidence," said Rodgers.

"I wanted a bit more activity in and around the box. Adam is a good, honest boy. He's not started how he'd like, and in games like this here I can't afford to wait."

Idah wasn't the only Celtic striker to toil on Wednesday night, lending weight to Rodgers' repeated calls for attacking reinforcements.

Daizen Maeda deputised through the middle before summer arrival Shin Yamada saw out the final 15 minutes as Celtic's attacking focal point.

Yamada managed just one touch in the Kairat box and registered no shots on goal, while Maeda, who played the full 90 minutes, had a sole attempt at goal - a golden chance late on that he sent straight at the goalkeeper - and three touches of the ball inside the area.

So the three players - Idah, Maeda, and Yamada - who spent time as Celtic's main striker combined for a total of 0.09 expected goals.

In fairness, the service to the strikers was poor on a night Celtic mustered an xG of just 0.54. Can Rodgers' side find more attacking thrust in the second leg?