The early rounds of the UEFA Champions League often throw up unknown opponents for British teams.
But tonight’s second qualifying round might top them all, with Celtic taking on Gibraltarian champions Lincoln Red Imps.
Lincoln only made their Champions League debut in 2014 – the first year teams from Gibraltar were admitted into the competition – and teams from the British overseas territory have played just eight two-legged European ties between them.
Scottish football fans may be familiar with one of Lincoln’s players, with forward Lee Casciaro famously scoring his country’s first ever international goal at Hampden Park, but what of the rest of their team?
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We caught up with Adam Roberts, who runs the Football Gibraltar Twitter account, to get the lowdown.
Lincoln Red Imps are the first ever Gibraltarian team to ever play in the Champions League – what has the support for them been like back home?
Lincoln have a massive fanbase mainly because they are the biggest team in Gibraltar and contribute so much to the Gibraltar national squad. The fans during the Flora game were tremendous and are known to create a fervent atmosphere so it should be interesting how they compare to the Celtic fans who are equally as loud and passionate.
They have won 14 straight league titles – why have they been so dominant domestically?
Before getting into UEFA, the league wasn’t as competitive as it is now. Teams were only allowed to have 3 foreigners in their squad and with Lincoln having the best local players, they would dominate every game. Since joining UEFA, though, rules have been changed so teams have got stronger like Europa, Lions & St Joseph’s. Lincoln have still won the league but they have had to work hard for it, something which they haven’t had to do in previous years.
Flora Tallinn are part of a much more highly-ranked football league, so how big a deal was the win in the first qualifying round?
It was a massive occasion, Flora were favourites to win the tie but when Lincoln are on the top of their game, they are very hard to beat. Hopefully they can do the same against Celtic.
How has the draw with Celtic been received?
When we found out that Celtic would be Lincoln’s opponents if they defeated Flora, the people of Gibraltar went absolutely crazy. Celtic hold some world class players who have had & will have a great career in the game but everyone was excited to see Brendan Rodgers on our home soil.
Who are the main danger-men for Celtic to look out for?
Joseph Chipolina is to many Gibraltar’s best player and someone who scored over two legs against Flora, [Former Portsmouth midfielder] Liam Walker is technically one of Lincoln’s best and in yesterdays press conference Brendan Rodgers pointed him out as their main threat, and Lee Casciaro should give Celtic defenders hell over both legs, the striker is quick, strong and has an eye for goal.
What would constitute a good result for Lincoln over the two legs?
I don’t think anyone is expecting Lincoln to do wonders and win the game. As long as they perform well they will already look like winners to the people in Gibraltar, but i’m predicting a Celtic 4-0 win.
Feature image credit: Gonzalo Arroyo Moreno/Steve Welsh/Getty Images
