It’s been done before. I don’t care! Brentford fans, you get your ‘Last Word’ fix tomorrow.Right now, let’s just cut to the chase and reflect on the enormity of Lincoln Red Imps (champions of Gibraltar) beating Celtic (one time European cup winners) 1-0 in the Champion’s League .
Long have these pages celebrated those fleeting moments of triumph from this most fledgling of footballing nations. Long have we absorbed the mocking of Spanish (and other) supporters.
Yet, yet, yet…. write off anybody at your peril when it comes to football. Forget the statistics. Forget the futsal. Forget the tippy-tappy. When it comes down to it, there’s only one thing that counts – the result after 90 minutes.
“A result which ranks as the most embarrassing in Celtic’s history.” Not my words but those of journalism’s, The Independent.
“The Shock of Gibraltar: Celtic beaten by minnows in Brendan Rodgers’ first match.” Not my words but those of The Mail.
“Brendan Rodgers’ first game as Celtic boss ended in humiliation as his Hoops side were humbled 1-0 by Lincoln Red Imps in in the first leg of their second Champions League qualifier at the Victoria stadium.” Not my words etc.etc…. The Telegraph.
“Celtic suffered arguably the worst defeat in their history when they were humbled by Gibraltarian part-timers Lincoln Red Imps in the Champions League second qualifying round.” This time from the BBC.
“We wanted an easier job after the first leg, and this makes it a bit more complicated, but we will be fine for the second game.” Most definitely not my words but those of Celtic manager Brendan Rodgers.
Brendan, I wouldn’t be so sure.
It was a scoreline you can only dream of.Let’s not forget that Gibraltar (pop 30,000ish) have only been UEFA members since 2013. If Iceland beating England in the Euros may have been deemed an upset, this one comes in at an 11 on the Richter scale of shocks.
Forget sleeping giants. This was a sleeping policeman. MOD police office Lee Casciaro giving Rodgers a (cardiac) arrest in his first competitive game at the helm of Celtic.
No, being the clear answer
What more can you say? Celtic are still giving it large, despite having lost. On reputation and history then surely they will sweep the boys from Gibraltar to one side in the second leg next week.
The again, on reputation and history they should have done that on Tuesday night.
What a result. Congratulations to Lincoln Red Imps in producing a shock on the Rock. Here’s to the second leg…..
Nick Bruzon
BrentfordFC 
Gibraltarian football greatest moment and confirmation in my mind that the Scottish League is now on a par with the Irish League. I predicted years ago on the GPG to criticisms that demoting Rangers to Div 3 would be football suicide for the whole of Scottish football and consequently the end product would be poor quality football and would give no reason for for sponsors to invest in Scotland rather than the English Leagues and thus making a once great league nothing more than a minor European one.
Well done Imps! Would be astonishing if they completed the job
Thanks BQ and spot on. It’s going to be interesting to see if Mark Warburton and Rangers make things any more competitive up there in the longer term.
As for being criticised on the GPG for expressing an opinion… surely that’s just par for the course?
Well done the Imps,, a famous win made even more special by Brendan’s ungracious attempt to cover up afterwards.
Warbs agreed a long contract extension yesterday, maybe he sees the opportunity to put Rangers way ahead of Brendan’s hoops.
Would enhance his rep massively regardless of the quality of the SPL. By the way I don’t think their football is quite so bad as made out.
Anyway it’s all about Gib today.
Thanks Rebel. I have to say that Brendan’s post match comments seemed bizarre, at best. More than a hint of sour grapes on show .
As you say though, it’s all about the Imps and that result. Just wow
Thought you’d be happy about that result!
In the wake of the Celtic result people are tweeting in their most embarrassing results on the BBC . At 18.20 Joe tweeted his as MK Dons 4 MU 0. Not being a tweeter I can’t console him by saying that it’s not that bad when you factor in that Will Griggs was on fire
3 goals in 9 mins and all Scottish teams through to the next round of European qualifiers. Just because warbs went to gers doesn’t mean that you need to crawl up theirs. Don’t forget it was celtic who loaned us McGinn and before warbs we had a good relationship with them.poor form.
Hi Declan – I don’t have any particular allegiance to Rangers (albeit tons of respect for Warbs). Likewise, Celtic. However, being from Gibraltar I’m only ever going to cheer on Lincoln Red Imps. And College Europa. Not sure I follow how this is ‘poor form’…..