Featured Image Credit: Getty
Topics: Real Madrid, Champions League, Kylian Mbappe
Josh Lawless
Real Madrid set a Champions League record which may never be broken in their 5-0 win over Kazakhstan minnows Kairat on Tuesday night.
The two sides met in one of the biggest mismatches in the history of the competition, with the 15-time European champions travelling 4000 miles east to Asia to take on a side who are participating in the Champions League for the first time in their history.
After seeing off Olimpija Ljubljana of Slovenia, Finland's Kuopion Palloseura, Slovakia's Slovan Bratislava and Scottish giants Celtic in various qualifiers, Kairat secured passage to the league phase of Europe's premier club competition and suffered a 4-1 defeat to Sporting CP in their first fixture.
They welcomed Real to Almaty Central Stadium on Tuesday and Los Blancos ran riot with a 5-0 trouncing in the most easterly fixture in the Champions League/European Cup.
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Kylian Mbappe helped himself to a fourth Champions League hat-trick, while substitutes Eduardo Camavinga and Brahim Diaz also scored past Kairat's 18-year-old goalkeeper Sherkhan Kalmurza.
The gulf in class was clear to see and evidenced in a study Transfer Markt did on the value of each squad. According to their data, the fixture delivered the biggest gap in market values between clubs in the history of the competition.
Real's squad, led my Mbappe and Jude Bellingham - has a market value of €1.4 billion - compared to Kairat's €12.73 million. All but three of Real Madrid’s first team are more valuable than the entire Kairat squad, while Real have also won 114 more trophies than their most recent opponents.
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The overall difference was listed as a staggering €1.38 billion - eclipsing the €1.24 billion gap between Manchester City and Slovan Bratislava last season.
City incidentally, are involved in every other spot in the top ten for games against the likes of Young Boys, Red Star Belgrade, Sparta Prague, Dinamo Zagreb and Shakhtar Donetsk.
Kairat, who were formed in 1954 and featured in the inaugural Conference League, also take on Inter Milan and Arsenal in this season's league phase - playing both away from home as part of their new European adventure.
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There will be further opportunities to see 17-year-old starlet Dastan Satpaev, who will join Chelsea when he is 18.
Rock bottom of the table, next up for Kairat in the competition is a meeting with Cypriot side Pathos in what they will be hoping is a perfect chance to get some points on the board.