8,000 kilometers away from Madrid! Almaty has become a "geographic nightmare" for European teams

Under the leadership of coach Rafael Urazbakhtin, Kazakhstan Super League team Karat Almaty eliminated Scottish giants Celtics and successfully entered the main match of the UEFA Champions League this season with a historic penalty shootout. Their promotion not only brought generous returns to the team, but also made other teams in European football face an unprecedented "geographic nightmare".

Historical Promotion: 50 million Europa League prize and the Eastern European Champions League participating team

For this "small team" in Kazakhstan, this is a night worth remembering. They not only won a huge prize of nearly 50 million euros, but also won valuable seats in Europe's most prestigious club competitions.

Previously, the Celtics drew 0-0 with Carat Almaty at home last week. Despite their mediocre performance, Brendan Rodgers's team is still generally optimistic that they can easily advance. However, after a long journey to Kazakhstan, the Celtics were once again in trouble and were eventually eliminated in the penalty shootout. Goalkeeper Temirlan Analbekov, who was only 21 years old, became a hero and saved three consecutive penalty kicks in the penalty shootout to turn the tide.

At the same time, Carat Almaty has made history and became the most geographically located participating club in the history of the Champions League qualifiers. The joy of Kazakhstan across the country may become a "geographic nightmare" for other European giants - in the next few months, some top European clubs will have to cross thousands of kilometers to compete in this distant Central Asian city. The city of Almaty where the

Karat Club is located is even more geographically located than the westernmost ends of Afghanistan and China. This means that any European team heading to Almaty to play in Karat will face the challenge of a super long flight, which will undoubtedly have a huge impact on the players' physical fitness and condition. According to statistics, European teams travel from Madrid to Almaty, with a road distance of up to 8,059 kilometers and a straight-line distance in the air is close to 6,400 kilometers, which will once again break the "farest record" of the Champions League. After the game, Celtics coach Brendan Rodgers expressed deep disappointment with the result. "It's very frustrating," he said. "We made good progress last season and played very good football, so it was a heavy blow for us and a deep disappointment."

Rodgers added: "We all know what this means. We are eager to play in the Champions League. But we failed to do it. The UEFA Cup is certainly an important event, but we have missed a huge opportunity in the past two games." The successful advancement of Carat Almaty not only rewrites the history of the club, but also brings a brand new geographical challenge to the Champions League. For European giants who are about to face this "new force", how to maintain competitiveness while a long journey and adapting to the new environment will be a question they need to think about seriously.