Riga vs Kairat Almaty

Riga FC and Kairat Almaty shared the points at the Skonto Stadium, a 1-1 draw in their Conference League league-phase opener that was settled inside the first 12 minutes. Kairat went ahead after only five minutes when Marc Gual converted a penalty. The lead did not last long. In the 12th minute Salah Oulad equalised for the home side, set up by Maksims Tonisevs. Neither side found a second goal. Riga held 64 per cent of the ball and had 14 shots, four of them on target, while Kairat managed eight efforts with three on target. The visitors collected three yellow cards, for Jaakko Oksanen (23rd minute), Erkin Tapalov (56th) and Aleksandr Martynovich (90th plus 2). Nobody was sent off. Both clubs open the campaign with one point from one game. Riga will feel they did enough to take more from a match in which they had the greater share of the chances.