Celtic Embark on Road Trip to the Land of Borat

Celtic have embarked on one of the longest road trips ever to play a competitive European fixture - they will play Kazakh side, FC Shakhter of Karagandy. It is so long, that one wonders why Kazakhstan is considered part of the UEFA zone when it's closer to Beijing than Glasgow.

This is the real Kazakhstan

Karaganda (in Kazakh) is the 4th largest city in the country made famous by oil and Sacha Baron Cohen behind Almaty, Astana and Shymkent. An interesting fact: they've got quite a few ethnic Germans who are descended from people sent to this remote part of the world by Catherine the Great and Stalin.

FC Shakhter - Kazakh's finest

For FC Shakhter, they've gone further than any Kazakh side has gone in European football and whatever happens in this tie will still be considered a success for one of UEFA's newer sides, particularly against a former European champion.

It is one of those trips that Scottish sides don't tend to relish - and when they win, they're often considered heroes. However, Celtic are a side some quality even if it's not quite in the amount that the likes of Barca, Manchester United and Juventus have. And it would be some surprise if they lost to FC Shakhter in this tie even if it's quite possible to consider a 1-0 win to the home side in today's first leg.

Mind you, FC Shakhter did take out now-established Champions League campaigners, BATE Borisov from Belarus so Celtic cannot afford to take the Kazakhs lightly.

Last time Milan played Eindhoven was for a spot in the 2005 Final

In other fixtures, a shell shocked Arsenal have to travel to Fenerbahce to make yet another Champions League group stages - you can imagine that a shock exit to the Turks could possibly end Arsene Wenger's 14 year career at Arsenal. Basel take on Ludogorets from Hungary and Lyon take on Real Sociedad and Milan take on Eindhoven in two very intriguing non-champions ties. Schalke play PAOK Salonika instead of Metalist Kharkiv as originally drawn as a result of the Ukrainian side's exclusion from all European competition over match-fixing allegations.

And here's the full lineup of fixtures.

Dinamo Zagreb v Austria Wien
Ludogorets Razgrad v Basel
Viktoria Plzen v Maribor
FC Shakhter v Celtic
Steaua Bucharesti v Legia Warsaw
Fenerbahce v Arsenal
Lyon v Real Sociedad
Schalke v PAOK
Pacos v Zenit St Petersburg
PSV Eindhoven v Milan