Champions League 2025-2026: Copenhagen-Kairat Almaty, the likely lineups

The match between Copenhagen and Kairat Almaty will be played at 6:45 p.m. Wednesday. Copenhagen picked up its only point in the Champions League on the first day, with a 2-2 home draw against Bayer Leverkusen, a game it was on the verge of winning before the German equalizer came in the recovery with Hatzidiakos’ own goal. From there on, Neestrup’s team only lost: 2-0 at the Qarabag ground, 2-4 at home with Borussia Dortmund and 4-0 in London against Tottenham.

With twelve goals conceded, Copenhagen is the second most holed defense in the Champions League, worse only Ajax with sixteen goals against (they conceded two on Tuesday with Benfica). Kairat Almaty is not much better, as it has conceded eleven goals. It scored two, one of them in the last match played at San Siro against Inter Milan. It was the third defeat for the Kazakhs, following the 4-1 loss to Sporting and the 5-0 loss to Real Madrid. Kairat’s only useful result came on the third day, with a 0-0 home draw against Pafos, despite playing almost the entire match in numerical superiority due to a red after four minutes.

Copenaghen and Kairat have one point apiece and have yet to win a game. Whoever succeeds would remain in the running to reach at least 24th place in the ranking, which gives access to the Champions playoffs in February.

Probable lineups

Copenaghen (4-4-2): Kotarski; Suzuki, Gabriel Pereira, Hatzidiakos, Lopez; Larsson, Lerager, Clem, Achouri; Moukoko, Elyounoussi. Coach: Neestrup.

Kairat Almaty (4-2-3-1): Anarbekov; Mrynskiy, Shirobokov, Sorokin, Machado Mata; Kasabulat, Arad; Gromyko, Jorginho, Satpaev; Edmilson Santos. Coach: Urazbakhtin.

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