From Cyprus to Kazakhstan: Underdogs shake up Champions League draw

Dubai: You know what I love about football? Just when you think you’ve seen it all, the beautiful game throws up something that makes you fall in love all over again. This Champions League season is one of those moments. The draw is out — and some of the clashes are pure fantasy.

Four clubs are living their wildest dreams right now. Pafos from Cyprus, Bodo/Glimt from way up north in Norway, the mad lads from Kazakhstan’s FC Kairat Almaty, and Belgium’s Union Saint-Gilloise have all somehow made it to the big stage. And their stories are incredible.

Let’s start with the most surreal. FC Kairat Almaty are in the Champions League. Kazakhstan is in the Champions League. And it happened because a 21-year-old keeper, Temirlan Anarbekov, had the game of his life against Celtic in a penalty shootout.

He saved three penalties. Three! Imagine the scenes in Almaty that night.

Now here’s the crazy part — mighty Real Madrid will have to fly over 12 hours to play a football match in Kazakhstan.

And Kairat themselves face nearly 7,000km trips to Sporting Lisbon and Arsenal. The stuff of dreams for debutants.

Bodo/Glimt’s story is pure football magic. Eight years ago, they were stuck in Norway’s second division. Now they’re set to host Tottenham Hotspur, Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City, and Juventus.

They climbed step by step: first the Conference League, then the Europa League, and now the Champions League.

Spurs fans know them well — the sides have met before. And their trip to Istanbul to face Galatasaray will be epic.

Pafos FC are living in a football fantasy. They’ve got Bayern Munich coming to Cyprus — the same Bayern that steamroll most of the Bundesliga.

But that’s not all. They’re off to Turin to face Juventus, then to Stamford Bridge to meet Chelsea. And here’s the twist: David Luiz is back at Stamford Bridge, but this time in a Pafos shirt. The curly-haired Brazilian who once won the Champions League with Chelsea returns in the most unexpected subplot.

They’ll also face fellow debutants Kairat Almaty. Two debutants meeting in the Champions League. Football is absolutely mad, isn't it?

Union Saint-Gilloise must be pinching themselves. They have drawn Bayern Munich’s Allianz Arena and Atletico Madrid’s Metropolitano — two of the most intimidating stages in world football. And, these Belgian underdogs are going to walk out there like they belong.

At home, they will host Inter Milan and Newcastle. For their fans, these are dream nights, the kind you imagine as a kid.

The record books will log the results, but they won’t capture the magic. For that, you’ll have to watch it unfold.