Lincoln Red Imps F.C. 1–0 Celtic F.C.

Lincoln Red Imps vs Celtic was a football match played on 12 July 2016 at Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar. The match was a UEFA Champions League second qualifying round tie between Lincoln Red Imps, the champions of the 2015–16 Gibraltar Premier Division and Celtic, winners of the 2015–16 Scottish Premiership. The result, a 1–0 victory for Lincoln, is considered one of the greatest shocks in European football, and has been described by some media outlets as possibly Celtic's most humiliating defeat, dubbing it the Shock of Gibraltar.

Lincoln Red Imps 1–0 Celtic
Aerial view of Victoria Stadium, Gibraltar
Event2016–17 UEFA Champions League second qualifying round – First leg
Date12 July 2016 (2016-07-12)
VenueVictoria Stadium, Gibraltar
RefereeAndreas Ekberg (Sweden)
Attendance1,632

At the time, the Gibraltar Premier Division was among the lowest-ranked football leagues in the UEFA coefficient, partly due to Gibraltarian clubs only participating in UEFA competition since 2014–15, while in the previous season Celtic had competed in the Group Stage of the Europa League.

Build-up

The match was Brendan Rodgers' first competitive match in charge of Celtic.

After victory in the 2015–16 Gibraltar Premier Division, Lincoln Red Imps under Uruguayan coach Julio César Ribas went into the tie having won 14 successive league titles, equaling a European record. As one of the lowest ranked teams in the UEFA Champions League, they entered in the first qualifying round where they faced Estonian side FC Flora. Despite a 2–1 defeat in Tallinn, a 2–0 victory in Gibraltar sent them through to the second qualifying round to face Celtic.[1]

Celtic themselves had been on a run of 6 successive Scottish titles, however, after a disappointing season in cup competition, head coach Ronny Deila resigned[2] and was replaced by former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers.[3] As Celtic received a bye to the second qualifying round, the tie against Lincoln Red Imps was his first competitive game in charge of The Bhoys.

Match

Lee Casciaro (right) scored the only goal of the match.

In Lincoln's matchday squad, 8 players were at the time full internationals for the Gibraltar national football team. Starting up front was Lee Casciaro, who scored Gibraltar's first ever competitive goal in a 6–1 victory for Scotland at Hampden Park in March 2015.[4] Celtic's starting 11 contained the previous season's top scorer Leigh Griffiths as well as new signing Moussa Dembélé in attack. The first half saw the visitors dominate possession yet the artificial surface at Victoria Stadium meant that they struggled to carve out any clear cut chances. Despite a disallowed goal from Moussa Dembélé after a foul on Raúl Navas, the two sides went in goalless at half-time.

In the second half, Celtic's slow start was quickly punished when Lee Casciaro latched onto a through ball from midfield, outsmarting Efe Ambrose before firing a low shot past Craig Gordon. Shortly afterwards, Antonio Calderon fired a shot over the crossbar while Celtic were still reeling from going behind. The introductions of James Forrest, Stuart Armstrong and Nadir Çiftçi failed to turn the tide in favour of Celtic, however, as Griffiths could only strike the crossbar twice as Lincoln held out for a shock victory.[5]

Details

Lincoln Red Imps1–0Celtic
L. Casciaro  48' Report
Attendance: 1,632
Lincoln Red Imps
Celtic
GK1 Raúl Navas
DF2 Jean-Carlos Garcia
DF3 Joseph Chipolina
DF5 Ryan Casciaro
DF14 Roy Chipolina (c)
MF6 Bernardo Lopes
MF88 Liam Walker 86'
MF19 Antonio Calderón
MF20 Yeray Patiño 90+4'
MF10 Kyle Casciaro
FW7 Lee Casciaro 74'
Substitutes:
GK13 Manuel Soler
DF16 Chechu
DF18 Kenneth Chipolina 90+4'
MF4 Anthony Bardon 86'
MF22 Leon Clinton
MF86 Fernando Livramento
FW11 George Cabrera 74'
Manager:
Julio César Ribas
GK1 Craig Gordon
DF22 Saidy Janko
DF28 Erik Sviatchenko
DF4 Efe Ambrose
DF63 Kieran Tierney
MF8 Scott Brown (c)
MF6 Nir Bitton
MF18 Tom Rogic 58'
FW9 Leigh Griffiths
FW10 Moussa Dembélé 74'
FW17 Ryan Christie 57'
Substitutes:
GK38 Leo Fasan
DF23 Mikael Lustig
MF14 Stuart Armstrong 58'
MF49 James Forrest 57'
MF42 Callum McGregor
FW27 Patrick Roberts
FW7 Nadir Çiftçi 74'
Manager:
Brendan Rodgers

Aftermath

Immediately after the match, many sports media outlets described it as one of Celtic's most embarrassing defeats, as well as one of the greatest shocks in European football history: The Scotsman described Celtic's defeat as a "humiliation", whilst The Guardian dubbed the result as "The Shock of Gibraltar".[6][7] However, in spite of the result, Celtic went on to win the return leg 3–0 at Celtic Park.[8]

Over the course of the rest of the season, Celtic would only go on to lose four more times; to Hapoel Be'er Sheva, Borussia Mönchengladbach and Barcelona twice, all also in the 2016–17 UEFA Champions League. The Bhoys went undefeated domestically and won the domestic treble in Brendan Rodgers' first season in charge. Speaking in 2019, Celtic's then-captain Scott Brown bemoaned the build-up to the game, as well as the condition of the pitch. He claimed that the result left a "scar" on the club.[9]

Conversely, Lincoln's fortunes declined after the defeat to Celtic in the second leg. After losing talisman Liam Walker to arch-rivals Europa followed by a defeat in the Pepe Reyes Cup, Lincoln found themselves locked in a tight championship race with Europa that eventually saw the Greens come out on top on the last day. The miserable season was compounded when Europa defeated Lincoln in the 2017 Rock Cup final, to win a domestic treble of their own.[10]

See also

References

  1. Armstrong, Gary (20 June 2016). "Who are Lincoln Red Imps? All you need to know about Celtic's Champions League opponents". Daily Record. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  2. "Ronny Deila: Celtic manager to leave club in summer". BBC Sport. 20 April 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  3. "Celtic name Brendan Rodgers as new manager". Celtic F.C. 20 May 2016. Retrieved 29 August 2017.
  4. Lamont, Alasdair (29 March 2015). "Scotland 6–1 Gibraltar". BBC Sport. Retrieved 15 April 2018.
  5. Donohoe, Eamonn (12 July 2016). "Lincoln Red Imps 1–0 Celtic". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  6. "Lincoln Red Imps 1 – 0 Celtic: Stunning upset in Rodgers' first match". The Scotsman. 12 July 2016. Retrieved 30 July 2016.
  7. "Shock of Gibraltar: is Celtic's defeat by Lincoln Red Imps their worst ever?". The Guardian. 12 July 2016. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  8. McLaughlin, Chris (20 July 2016). "Celtic 3–0 Lincoln Red Imps". BBC Sport. Retrieved 1 June 2017.
  9. Scott Brown opens up on infamous Celtic loss to Lincoln Red Imps 67 Hail Hail. 27 May 2019. Retrieved 15 November 2019.
  10. "Kike the star as Europa win Gibtelecom Rock Cup". Football Gibraltar. 28 May 2017. Retrieved 5 June 2017.
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