Overview

• Kickoff is 12:45 p.m. ET (5:45 p.m. BST) Tuesday at Almaty Central Stadium in Kazakhstan.
• Viewers in Ireland can watch free on Virgin Media Two/Player (geo‑restricted), and U.S. coverage is on Paramount+ with additional options via UniMás, TUDN, ViX and DirecTV Stream; several guides note VPN workarounds for accessing geo‑blocked streams.
• Multiple outlets report Mbappé will most likely not start, with predicted Madrid lineups featuring Vinícius Júnior and Franco Mastantuono in attack and Gonzalo García in contention.
• Kairat are making their first Champions League group campaign, opened with a 4-1 loss at Sporting, and return home after a 3-1 domestic win over Zhenis that keeps them top of the Kazakhstan Premier League.
• Real Madrid arrive after a 5-2 derby defeat to Atlético in LaLiga but began their European campaign with a 2-1 win over Marseille.