KuPS will aim to take full advantage of familiar surroundings when they welcome Kairat to Vare Areena on Tuesday for the first leg of their Champions League second qualifying round showdown.

The Finnish side reached this stage courtesy of a narrow 1-0 aggregate victory over Milsami, while the visitors from Kazakhstan sealed their place with a 3-1 triumph over Olimpija Ljubljana across two legs.

Match preview

Much like in the opening round, KuPS approach this encounter with hopes of making their home advantage count, having edged past Milsami with a slender 1-0 win in Kuopio before holding the Moldovans to a goalless draw in the reverse fixture on the road.

That success marked a small piece of history for the Yellow-Black, who advanced from this stage of the competition for the first time ever, having seen their previous attempt in the 2020-21 campaign fall flat in a one-leg tie at Molde.

Jarkko Wiss’s side are on a solid run at Vare Areena, with the victory over Milsami stretching Kuppio’s home winning streak to three matches in all competitions, providing a huge boost ahead of Tuesday’s clash.

However, the reigning Veikkausliiga champions have found it difficult to replicate their title-winning dominance domestically this term and were held to a 1-1 draw away to VPS last weekend, a result that left them sitting third after 17 rounds.

While the dropped points felt like another missed opportunity in a season riddled with inconsistency, it extended KuPS’ unbeaten streak to seven matches across all competitions, a run they will hope to build on as they return to familiar terrain. 

Rafael Urazbakhtin’s Kairat travel to Finland on a more consistent streak of their own, having now gone eight competitive matches without defeat (W5, D3).  

Their latest result — a 1-1 draw at home to Kaisar Kyzylorda — brought an end to a three-match winning streak at the Central Stadium and left the side second in Kazakhstan’s top flight, though their continental showing remains their biggest source of optimism.

Kairat were convincing in the previous round, seeing off Olimpija Ljubljana with a 2-0 home victory to complete a 3-1 aggregate success, following a similar blueprint to their 2021-22 campaign, when the Kazakhs drew away at Maccabi Haifa before sealing a two-goal win on their own turf.

Having reached this stage for the second time ever, the Team of the Nation are yet to go beyond it and will be eager to grab something from Tuesday’s trip to set themselves up favourably ahead of next week’s return leg in Almaty.

With two wins and two draws in their last four away games in all competitions, the visitors have shown they can be disciplined travellers and have every reason to be optimistic. 

KuPS Champions League form:

KuPS form (all competitions):

Kairat Champions League form:

Kairat form (all competitions):

Team News

Samuli Miettinen was shown a red card in KuPS’s league draw at VPS, but the defender is available for selection on Tuesday, as the suspension does not carry over to UEFA competitions, leaving Wiss with no player serving a ban in Europe.

However, the manager will still be without midfielder Samuel Pasanen, who continues to recover from a cruciate ligament injury sustained back in January and remains a long-term absentee.

Otto Ruoppi netted Kuopio’s only goal over two legs against Milsami and is expected to retain his spot in midfield, supporting an attacking unit that may feature Mohamed Toure, who scored in the league at the weekend.   

Agon Sadiku has led the line in both qualifiers so far, but with Toure finding his rhythm, Wiss has a decision to make in terms of who leads the charge from the outset.

As for Kairat, Amirbek Barzabayev remains unavailable through suspension due to disciplinary reasons, though midfielder Olzhas Baibek is back in contention after serving his ban in the previous round.

Eighteen-year-old forward Ramazan Bagdat received a red card in the league over the weekend, but that does not affect his eligibility in Europe, and he is expected to feature here.

Aleksandr Zarutskiy is expected to return in goal after starting both legs against Olimpija, while Urazbakhtin will once again be without injured duo Elder Santana and Joao Paulo, both of whom are still nursing cruciate ligament problems.

KuPS possible starting lineup:

Kreidl; Savolainen, Cisse, Miettinen, Antwi; Arifi, Oksanen; Pennanen, Ruoppi, Luyeye-Lutumba; Sadiku

Kairat possible starting lineup:

Zarutskiy; Kasabulat, Martynovich, Sorokin, Mata; Sanojev, Glazar, Bagdat; Gromyko, Jorginho, Satpaev

We say: KuPS 1-1 Kairat

This tie has the makings of a tense and closely fought contest, with KuPS likely to dictate play early on in front of their fans, but Kairat’s resilience on the road and recent form suggest they can do enough to keep things finely balanced heading into the second leg.

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here.

Written by
Adeyeye Oluwapelumi

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