As you know, Brendon Rodgers is the new manager of Celtic. The Scottish champions began their participation in the Champions League from the second preliminary round and were lucky to be drawn against the Gibraltarian team Lincoln Red Imps. The underdogs are a semi-professional team and their biggest victory in Europe so far is a 2-0 win against the Estonian team Flora Tallinn.
The visit to Gibraltar was the official debut for Brendon Rodgers as the manager of the most successful club in Scotland. But, he felt the disappointment from the very beginning of his career at Celtic. The Scottish team was surprised by their semi-professional opponents and lost 0-1! Lee Casciaro scored the only goal of the game in the 48th minute. He took advantage of a great long pass, showed a great technique against Celtic’s defender and put the chance away with a precise shot.
It’s interesting that Casciaro scored his only international goal for Gibraltar exactly against Scotland at Hampden Park in Glasgow. But, to be a football player is not the main occupation of the forward. Actually, Lee Casciaro is a policeman of the Gibraltar Defence Police!
“Congratulations on our opponent, it’s a huge victory for them. We have no excuse. If you get eliminated, then we can talk about failure. But I am sure that in the second leg we will achieve the required result to get through to the next round,” Brendon Rodgers said after the game.
In fact, Celtic had really good chances to win the game, but they underestimated the Gibraltarian team. 12 minutes before the final whistle, Leigh Griffiths hit the woodwork.
“It’s incredible! We just beat Celtic 1-0!” the captain of Lincoln – Roy Chipolina said in an interview. It’s interesting that Chipolina works as a Customs officer in Gibraltar. The defender has scored twice in 3 matches for his team in the Champions league preliminary rounds this campaign.
And what about the other footballers of Lincoln, who took part in the memorable match against Celtic. The goalkeeper Raul Navas has played for Cadiz. Lee Casciaro’s brother – Ryan also was among the starting eleven. They are also colleagues, as Ryan is also a policeman. The third brother Kyle played as a winger and in real life is a shipping agent. So, Rodgers you must be ashamed!
Can Celtic qualify for the next round? Will Rodgers feel a relieve after the second leg? We will find out on 20th July, when is the second match between these two teams.
