It’s the Champions League journey Celtic had in all probability hoped to keep away from.
A brief hop to Slovakia and again would have been simpler – logistically, a minimum of – than a round-trip of seven,000 miles to Kazakhstan.
However Kairat Almaty upset the percentages on Tuesday to beat Slovan Bratislava on penalties and arrange a play-off with Celtic.
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The primary leg is in Glasgow subsequent Wednesday however the return, six days later, is about 360 miles from the Dzungarian Gate border crossing into China.
The quickest flight time from London to Almaty is greater than eight hours. So when Celtic constitution their aircraft, gamers and employees will have the ability to get by about 4 movies a minimum of. And that’s simply the outward journey.
Celtic might be schlepping additional east than Kabul within the week main as much as the primary derby of the season at Ibrox.
It’s fairly the journey, however the Champions League lucre at stake for Brendan Rodgers’ males would make all of it worthwhile.
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Tony Bennett’s aircraft, Tallinn & steak dinners
Ought to they want some recommendation, Aberdeen made the identical journey on Europa League qualifying responsibility in 2015.
And the Scotland males’s nationwide workforce additionally travelled to Kazakhstan in 2019, an ill-fated journey on which Alex McLeish’s facet misplaced 3-0.
Communicate to these on the Scottish FA about it and so they make the logistics sound easy. “You fly there and again in a long-range Airbus or Boeing,” one stated.
The aircraft Aberdeen employed a decade in the past may as effectively have had ‘fly me to the moon’ branded alongside the fuselage.
It was – as a membership insider recalled – totally different from the kind they’d used earlier than for European away journeys. Smaller, extra luxurious.
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“I imagine it was utilized by the singer Tony Bennett and different celebrities,” they stated.
It didn’t go too effectively on the soccer facet, although, Aberdeen shedding 2-1 away earlier than a 1-1 draw at Pittodrie.
However that was not for a scarcity of consideration to element from then supervisor Derek McInnes and assistant Tony Docherty.
The Aberdeen squad – who stopped in Estonia on the best way out and Turkey on the best way again – had a steak dinner earlier than flying out late on the Tuesday for a Thursday sport.
The concept was that they might sleep on the aircraft, relatively than travelling throughout the day, and so they additionally all stayed on UK time to be higher outfitted to deal with their subsequent league sport a couple of days later.
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Kenny McLean’s late winner over Dundee United at Tannadice suggests they could have had the suitable concept.
What can historical past inform us about Kazakh journeys?
Rodgers and Celtic’s assist employees will have already got a plan in place for Kazakhstan. Not least given it’s a journey which is able to go an extended option to defining their season.
They can not go away something to probability in the case of getting out and in of Almaty as rapidly and as safely as doable, whereas giving the gamers the optimum circumstances to arrange for and get better from the gruelling journey.
It’s anticipated to be about 30C when Celtic go to, although that’s prone to drop to the mid-20s round kick-off time.
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Celtic’s report towards Kazakh opposition is nice, although the membership nonetheless await their first win within the former Soviet republic.
They’ve by no means performed Almaty earlier than however have made the journey to Kazakhstan 3 times prior to now decade or so.
Shakhter Karagandy had been overwhelmed 3-2 on mixture after a memorable night time at Parkhead, that includes a late winner from James Forrest.
Rodgers was in his first spell on the membership when Celtic knocked Astana out of Europe in consecutive seasons.
The Northern Irishman is not going to need the copybook to be blotted now, for all kinds of causes.
He could not fly in the identical aircraft Tony Bennett used, however he will definitely wish to keep away from a visit down The Boulevard of Damaged Desires.