Brendan Rodgers stunned as he loses Champions League playoff to Gibraltar part-timers

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Brendan Rodgers has lost the first competitive game of his Celtic career as his new club suffered a humiliating 1-0 defeat against Gibraltarian part-timers Lincoln Red Imps.

The Imps had just five full-time footballers in their squad, with the rest of the eleven being made up by policemen, shipping agents, and customs officials.

Lee Casciaro was their hero, bagging the only goal of the game just after the break.

“It was a game that we dominated and had enough chances to score, but sometimes it can happen in games like that, one ball up the pitch and they’re in,” said Rodgers in his post-match interview (via Echo).

“We’ve given ourselves a bit of work to do. I saw enough from the game, we created enough to go through.

“Of course you never want to lose the game. You let the local team have their night, we press on, another week’s training and be better for it.

“There’s no embarrassment. We never took our chances and they took theirs. The second leg will be different.”

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Celtic have not qualified for the Champions League since 2013 and were surely hoping Rodgers would be the man to end their wait.

If they can overcome the Imps at Parkhead next week they will still have one more qualifying round to get through.

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