Kairat Almaty vs Real Madrid

Real Madrid have won eight of their last nine UEFA Champions League matches when facing an opponent in the competition for the very first time, winning each of their last three by a 3+ goal margin since a 0-1 defeat against Lille in October 2024.

Kairat are only the second side ever to concede 4+ goals in both of their first two UEFA Champions League games, after SK Slovan Bratislava last season.

Real Madrid’s Kylian Mbappe has now scored three UEFA Champions League hat-tricks away from home, the joint-most of any player in the competition along with Filippo Inzaghi.

Kairat’s game against Real Madrid will be the just the second fixture played between sides from Kazakhstan and Spain in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, after Astana’s meetings with Atlético Madrid in the 2015-16 group stage (lost 0-4 away in Madrid, drew 0-0 at home).

Real Madrid have only lost three of the last 30 instances when facing a team for the first time in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League (W24 D3), suffering defeats against Lille in 2024 (0-1), Sheriff Tiraspol in 2021 (1-2) and Wolfsburg in 2016 (0-2).

This will be just Kairat’s fourth home match in major European competition, while they are still looking for their first victory (previously D1 L2 in the UEFA Conference League in 2021-22).

Real Madrid have beaten 111 different opponents in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, more than any other team. The only teams they have faced across the two competitions and not managed to win – of the 114 that they have played against overall – are Arsenal (4 times), AEK Athens (2) and Lille (1).

Real Madrid have lost both of their last two away games in the UEFA Champions League (0-1 v Atlético Madrid and 0-3 v Arsenal), while they haven’t lost three in a row since March/May 2001 (v Anderlecht, Galatasaray and Bayern Munich).