Kairat’s goalie Sherkhan Kalmurza jumps to Top 3 in UCL saves

Kairat suffered two initial defeats: an away loss to Sporting Lisbon (1-4) and a home loss to Real Madrid (0-5). These results send the Kazakh club to last place in the group with zero points. Though Ajax, Athletic Bilbao, and Benfica are also winless, their superior goal difference keeps them above Almaty.

Detailed statistics show that Kairat has few indicators where they outperform most opponents, with their strengths primarily lying in defensive performance.

Defensive highlights

Possession recoveries: Kairat made 84 possession recoveries over two matches, tying them for eighth place with Benfica and Bayer Leverkusen. Team Captain Aleksandr Martynovich led the team with 15 recoveries (13th overall among all players).

Total tackles: Rafael Urazbakhtin's team ranks fourth overall with 43 tackles, trailing only Athletic Bilbao, PSV, and Union Berlin. Within FC Kairat, Aleksandr Martynovich and Valeriy Gromyko are the top players with 7 tackles each (tied for 15th overall).

Won tackles: Kairat ranks even higher here, securing second place with 23 successful tackles, behind only Union Berlin (29). Martynovich again stood out with 5 successful tackles (tied for 3rd overall).

Clearances: The Almaty squad is fifth in clearances (55). Yegor Sorokin was the top performer with 12 clearances (9th overall).

Goalkeeper performance

Goalkeeper Sherkhan Kalmurza, who played both matches, showed a strong individual performance. Despite conceding nine goals (the worst record in the tournament), he ranks third overall in saves (11), trailing only Michael Neophytos of Pafos (13) and Gerónimo Rulli of Marseille (15). Crucially, Kalmurza is also one of only four goalkeepers to have saved a penalty. His stats are mixed, showing high activity but a large number of goals conceded.

Overall standing

In virtually every other metric (goals, shots, passes, and attacking actions), Kairat lags near the bottom of the table. Though not the absolute worst, Kairat only slightly edges out the weakest clubs. The sole attacking highlight came from substitute Olzhas Baybek: he completed 10 passes against Real Madrid with 100% accuracy, instantly placing him among the tournament leaders in that specific category.

After two rounds, Kairat is rooted to the bottom of their group, holding zero points and the worst goal difference. However, statistics reveal the team is not an overall underdog. They rank highly in tackles, successful defensive actions, and clearances. Individually, Martynovich, Gromyko, Sorokin, and Kalmurza have all earned spots in the upper tiers of the rankings. Ultimately, Kairat’s difficult start to the tournament reflects their standing as one of the weakest attacking sides.

Kazinform reported earlier that the 18-year-old goalkeeper's popularity soared after Almaty’s Kairat faced Real Madrid in the Champions League group stage match.