Sunday 10 July 2016 21:03, UK
Brendan Rodgers first competitive match against Lincoln Red Imps will be watched by fewer than 1,000 Celtic fans in Gibraltar next week.
The Gibraltarian part-timers beat Estonian side Flora Tallin 2-0 on Wednesday to secure a 3-2 aggregate victory and a second qualifying round tie against the Hoops.
Victoria Stadium, which has a capacity of only 2,000, will also host the Scottish champions in the first-leg next Tuesday night with the return game in Glasgow the following week.
Lincoln chairman Derek Alman is looking to set aside 960 tickets for Celtic supporters as former Liverpool boss Rodgers, who took over from Ronny Deila in May, looks to get his tenure off to a flying start.
Alman, who also doubles up as the club's president, ruled out moving the fixture to a bigger stadium as it would have been a "logistical nightmare".
"It is definitely coming to Gibraltar," said Alman. "We had thoughts in that direction a week ago with the possibility of us getting through to the second round.
"But we had to wait until last night to be certain, to be able to make arrangements, which gives us only four days for tickets and security arrangements in places such as Portugal so that is a logistical nightmare.
"We wouldn't be able to do that, it would jeopardise the success of the match. We know we are foregoing a huge financial prize but I think we would rather keep it small and manageable. At the end of the day we are a small club.
"We are hoping to be able to allocate 960 (tickets to Celtic fans). With the design of the stadium and the segregation of the fans, it works out well for us to give one side of the stadium to Celtic.
"We have just two main stands directly opposite each other so it is more secure for Celtic fans to be in one stand and local fans to be in the other.
"We know Brendan Rodgers knows Gibraltar as he has been a visitor here so he probably knows the stadium well enough."
Alman joked about the match, saying he is looking to be "4-0 up in the first-half, anything else is a disappointment for us" before undertaking a more serious analysis.
"It is our third year in the Champions League qualifiers and we have got through twice to the second qualifying round, so it is a dream draw for us, to host such an illustrious club as Celtic here in Gibraltar, we are over the moon," he said.
"To be realistic, we are a very humble club, we have just joined UEFA so we are taking our first steps into European football.
"The population of Gibraltar is 32,000, most of our players are local so we have to be realistic but we will fight it out and we will try to give Celtic a competitive match.
"Just getting into the second round of the qualifiers is a huge achievement for us. We beat the champions of Estonia whose population is 1.5m and that is a prize in itself.
"We are under no illusions as to what is the normal thing to happen. However, having said that, football is football and bigger upsets have been seen."
