Lincoln Red Imps: All you need to know about Celtic's semi professional opponents

Celtic kick-start their Champions League qualifying this evening against semi-professional Lincoln Red Imps from Gibraltar. The question a lot of football fans, Celtic fans and so called 'betting experts' are wondering is; who the hell are Lincoln Red Imps? Now before I go any further I'm making it very clear that I'm not a expert in Gibraltar or indeed their domestic football, I never have been and I highly doubt I ever will be. This however is what I can tell you.

Lincoln Red Imps are arguably one of the most successful sides in Gibraltar. In their trophy cabinet they currently posses 22 Gibraltar football league trophies, 17 Rock Cup trophies and 18 Gibraltar League Senior Cups. Now this sounds impressive (on a Gib scale) but when you take into account that they last time they did not win the league in the 2001-2002 season, iTunes had not even been invented and Marcus Rashford was four years old. This shows that the Lincoln Red Imps may sound like a pub team but in their recent times in domestic football they've had success on a scale that even Paris Saint Germain would be proud of.

Why are they so dominant?

Well, you'd think that the fact that they share a 5,000 seat Victoria Stadium may possibly something to do with it, but when you realise that the entire Gibraltar first division share the stadium with the national side then this feat doesn't seem as impressive. They do however posses 10 of the 31 players who are currently play for Gibraltar's national side including their two only current goalscorers Kyle Casciaro and national captain Roy Chipolina. The fact that a lot of the team play for club and country together may have lead to the domestic success.

Since Gibraltar's acceptance into UEFA in 2013, they have been able to enter one team for Champions League qualification and one team for Europa League qualification. Now despite this being in force for three seasons the Imps are the only Gib side to feature in Champions League qualification ever. In 2014 they were knocked out in the first round and last year reached the second round of qualifying only to be knocked out by FC Midtjylland. This campaign they have reached the second round where they face Celtic and despite their domestic success and history they have a enormous hurdle to climb to beat Brendan Rodgers' new side.

Celtic go into this campaign with a new manager with new ideas and seeks a lot of ambition with Rodgers' charismatic Celtic team. They are currently undefeated in their four pre-season friendlies whilst on tour in Slovenia and Austria  with two wins and two draws. They have also bought in teenage striker Moussa Dembele from Fulham who bagged 17 goals in 46 games for the West London side last season. He will look to form a deadly partnership with Leigh Griffiths who impressively scored 40 times in 51 games last season for The Bhoys.

So I hope that you have  better understanding of Celtic's opponents tonight. Despite their immense history Lincoln Red Imps probably don't stand a chance against the 1967 and 1970 European Cup winners and you would be very brave to think otherwise.