Champions League | Almaty Miracle! Kylat, Bode Shining, Paphos advances to the UEFA Championship for the first time in history

The godfather of pop music, Luo Dayou, once wrote a song called "Wild Lily There is Spring". This song is suitable for Almaty Keirat, Bode Shining, and AEP Paphos in the early morning, because there will be spring in the small ball club.

On August 27, 2025, European football ushered in a historic moment. Kazakhstan's Almaty Keilat, Norway's Bode Shine and Cyprus' AEP Paphos defeated their opponents in the last round of the Champions League qualifying matches, and entered the Champions League for the first time in the history of the team. The Champions League play-offs early this morning not only rewritten the fate of the three clubs, but also broke the traditional pattern of the Champions League and set a new benchmark for small-national league teams.

Almaty Keilat vs Celtics

Kazakhstan belongs to Asia, and Almaty is only 200 kilometers away from the Chinese border. It is here that Keilat creates the "Almaty miracle". Keirat is the team with the most games in all Champions League playoff teams. They played 4 rounds and 8 qualifying matches in total before they won the Champions League place.

Along the way, Almaty Keirat eliminated Ljubljana Olympia 3-1 in the first round of the qualifying round; 3-0 in the second round of the qualifying round, and thrillingly eliminated Coops 3-2; in the third round of the qualifying round, Almaty Keirat drew 1-1 with Bratislava in two rounds, and advanced to the play-off 4-3 in the penalty shootout. In two rounds of the play-offs, Almaty Keirat and the Celtics both got into a draw, and eventually defeated the Celtics 3-2 in the penalty shootout, advancing to the Champions League for the first time in the team's history, and Almaty Keirat also became the second non-European team in the history of the Champions League.

For Almaty Keilat, the last Champions League play-off in the early morning of this morning was the most important game of their season so far, after all, they are only one step away from advancing to the Champions League main match. Almaty Kerat can create miracles, and the 21-year-old young goalkeeper Tamilland is the first contributor. In the penalty shootout, he saved Idah, McCohen and Maeda Daran's penalty kicks respectively, and made his first contribution. The team's united "Iron Barrel" defensive strategy was also very successful. They voluntarily gave up the ball, but the defense was well organized, which made the Celtics unable to break through the goal for 180 minutes.

Celtics have taken the advantage of the game and created more opportunities, but the inefficiency of the last shot is a fatal injury. The most fatal one is Japanese international Maeda Daran, who first played an excellent single shot in the 86th minute, and then lost a key penalty in the fifth round of the penalty shootout. The whole team is worth ten times that of the opponent, but obviously underestimating the enemy and facing intensive defense, they finally swallowed the bitter fruit of the defeat. This is a heavy blow for the Celtics. Their record of advancing to the Champions League for three consecutive seasons ended, and they can only switch to the UEFA Cup this season.

Almaty Keilat's victory once again proves the charm of football - it is not always strong that strong people will always be strong, and faith, tactics and a little luck can create miracles. Congratulations to Almaty Keilat and look forward to their performance in the Champions League!

AEP Paphos vs Belgrade Red Star

Cyprus team Paphos entered the Champions League for the first time in European competitions, becoming the third team in Cyprus history to achieve this achievement. However, AEP Paphos's road to promotion is also thrilling.

Facing Israel's Tel Aviv Maccabi, they defeated Maccabi 1-0 away in the second leg with a total score of 2-1. In the third round of the qualifying round, AEP Paphos defeated Dynamo Kiev at home and away, and conceded zero goals in two rounds, which was still eye-catching. In the play-off against Belgrade Red Star, AEP Paphos first took the lead 2-1 away, and at home early this morning, with Yaya's draw in the 89th minute, AEP Paphos eliminated Belgrade Red Star 3-2 with a total score.

This is the first time Paphos has advanced to the Champions League in his history. Paphos has made history thanks to his stable defense and efficient counterattack, as well as the team's tenacious fighting spirit to the end. Although Belgrade Red Star has the advantage in overall strength, it has poor efficiency in the last goal. The home defeat in the first round lays a hidden danger. Although the second round of back-to-back match once equalized the total score in the game, Red Star saw hope. However, Paphos's Pepe Rodriguez assisted Yaya to score a key goal, freezing the score of the second leg at 1-1, and Red Star ultimately failed to reverse.

Graz Storm vs Bode Shining

Although Bode Shining gained a huge advantage of 5-0 in the first round, Bode Shining still did not relax his vigilance in the away game in the second round. In the 15th minute of the game, Heyjug assisted Jorgensen to score, and Bode shone a 1-0 lead. Although Graz Storm equalized the score by Sidi Jata in the 30th minute and scored another goal in the 73rd minute of the game, Graz Storm was still powerless.

Although Bode Shining lost to Graz Storm 1-2 away, with the huge advantages established in the first leg and the strong strength shown in the entire series, Bode Shining still eliminated his opponent with an absolute advantage of 6-2 in the total score. He entered the Champions League for the first time in team history and became the first Norwegian team to advance to the Champions League in the past 18 years. The promotion of these three teams once again proves that the football world is full of miracles. For Almaty Keirat and AEP Paphos, they not only rewrite the history of the club, but also earned glory for national football. Bode Shining continues the strong momentum in recent years. The artificial turf in its "devil's home court" in the Arctic Circle is expected to cause a lot of trouble to future opponents. The new season of the Champions League will be more suspenseful and charming because of these new faces. Looking forward to their continued wonderful performance in the main competition!