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Away from the World Cup limelight, the Champions League has restarted with Shamrock Rovers defender Roberto ‘Pico’ Lopes unable to play due to his memorable tournament run with Cape Verde.
In 10 games played on Tuesday in the first qualifying round of the Champions League, the first goal of the season was scored in Gibraltar by a player even older than Cristiano Ronaldo – 41-year-old Nano, left-back for Lincoln Red Imps.
Lopes returned to Dublin on Monday, three days after Cape Verde thrilled the World Cup by pushing defending champions Argentina and Lionel Messi to the limit in a 3-2 loss in the last 16 at Miami Gardens.
Shamrock, where the 34-year-old Lopes has played since 2016, lost 2-0 to Floriana in the first game in Malta.
“Unfortunately I will miss the game in Malta,” Lopes told reporters at Dublin airport, “but I’m looking forward to getting back to training and getting back to doing what I love.”
Rovers host the second game next Tuesday.
Champions League in football outposts
Champions League action unfolded on Tuesday in a number of soccer nations that never qualified for a World Cup – Gibraltar, San Marino, the Faroe Islands – and one that did, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Bosnian champions Borac Banja Luka played their first game at home, drawing 1-1 with Levski Sofia, albeit without their only World Cup player, 18-year-old goalkeeper Mladen Jurkas.
In Gibraltar, Lincoln opened the competition’s scoring with a 16th-minute Nano penalty in a 3-1 win over Inter Club d’Escaldes of Andorra.
Return of Kairat
Four more matches will be played on Wednesday, including in Estonia, Moldova and Kazakhstan, where Kairat Almaty will start again in the first qualifying round.
Kairat reached the lucrative main stage in the last edition and played Real Madrid, Arsenal and Inter Milan.
Belarus champions Vitebsk will host their “home game” in neutral Hungary without fans in the stadium.
UEFA has banned Belarusian teams from hosting matches since Russia’s full military invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russian teams remain suspended from all European tournaments, including the Champions League.
Conference League starts
Matches also started on Tuesday in the first qualifying round of the third-tier Conference League, in Albania and Luxembourg.
The second tier of the Europa League starts on Thursday with teams that often play in the main phase of the Champions League. Qarabaq, Dynamo Kyiv and Ferencvaros are all in action.
Report from the Associated Press.
