Former European champions Celtic exited the UEFA Champions League in the qualifiers after a 3-2 penalty shoot-out defeat at Kazakhstan’s Kairat Almaty on Tuesday, following two goalless legs in the playoff tie.
Kairat are to compete in the competition proper for the first time, while Norway’s Bodo/Glimt and Cyprus’s Pafos also secured debut appearances after coming through the playoffs.
Celtic’s night ended in disappointment as they missed three penalties in the shoot-out, Daizen Maeda failing with the decisive spot-kick.
Photo: AP
The slugfest of a match went into extra-time with neither side finding the net and few overall chances, echoing the first leg in Glasgow, Scotland.
Celtic’s Luke McCowan went close to finding a winner in the 112th minute, but his close-range effort was brilliantly palmed away by Kairat goalkeeper Temirlan Anarbekov.
Last season’s UEFA Europa League semi-finalists Bodo/Glimt reached the competition’s league stage despite a 2-1 loss at Austria’s Sturm Graz, as their dominant 5-0 home win last week sealed a 6-2 aggregate triumph.
Norway is to have a team in the competition proper for the first time since 2007, when Rosenborg featured.
In Cyprus, Pafos celebrated reaching the league stage after edging out Red Star Belgrade 3-2 on aggregate. Home hero Jaja struck in the 89th minute to make it 1-1 on the night, before the hosts survived almost 10 minutes of stoppage time to spark jubilant scenes in the coastal Mediterranean city.
The league-phase draw is to take place today in Monaco, with the first matchday scheduled to be played from Sept. 16 to 18.
Jesper Boqvist on Tuesday scored the go-ahead goal midway through the third period as the Florida Panthers, after raising their second straight NHL Stanley Cup banner, opened the defense of the title by beating the Chicago Blackhawks 3-2. Mackie Samoskevich — getting his second assist, the fifth two-point game of his career — chipped the puck toward the goal and Boqvist knocked it out of the air for the lead with 10 minutes, 20 seconds left. A.J. Greer and Carter Verhaeghe also had goals for Florida, who got 17 saves from Sergei Bobrovsky. Frank Nazar had a goal and an assist and Teuvo
HISTORIC CHANCE: Indonesia would qualify for their first FIFA World Cup since 1938 if they defeat Saudi Arabia and Iraq on Wednesday and Saturday respectively Almost 90 years after their first and only appearance at the FIFA World Cup, Indonesia are just two victories away from returning to the tournament. It would mark a major turnaround in fortunes in just more than three years since 135 spectators died at the Kanjuruhan stadium disaster in East Java on Oct. 1, 2022, as security forces fired tear gas at spectators, causing a stampede for the exits in a domestic match. If Indonesia can defeat Saudi Arabia and Iraq on Wednesday and Saturday respectively, in a qualifying tournament, then they would advance to the 2026 World Cup to be cohosted
Unlike his fellow American basketball player, Brittney Griner, Jarred Shaw has received scant attention after being arrested for a drug offence abroad. When Jarred Shaw, an American basketball player in Indonesia, stepped down to the lobby in his apartment complex in May to collect a package containing illegally imported cannabis gummies, he thought that the medicine to ease his Crohn’s disease had arrived. It had, but so too had 10 undercover police officers. A video on social media showed Shaw, wearing a black T-shirt and shorts, shouting for help as the swarm of officers moved to apprehend him. The 35-year-old from Dallas, Texas,
World No. 3 Alexander Zverev on Monday said that he was playing “terrible tennis” after he was knocked out of the Shanghai Masters by France’s Arthur Rinderknech 4-6, 6-3, 6-2. His exit leaves Novak Djokovic as the tournament’s top-ranked player, increasing the 38-year-old Serb’s chances of winning a record-extending fifth title in the Chinese financial hub. In stifling conditions, world No. 54 Rinderknech came back from a set down to stun an increasingly rattled Zverev into submission. It is the second time the Frenchman has beaten him, after bundling him out of Wimbledon earlier this year. A despondent Zverev told reporters the match had
RSS