UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE PREVIEW - CELTS TRAVEL TO LATVIA FOR THE FIRST TIME

WHEN the Hoops joined the rest of the teams in this season’s UEFA Europa League, we knew there would be a bit of a wait before finding out who our first opponents would be, even in this abridged one-tie mid-Covid version of the competition – still, we didn’t realise quite how long the wait would be.

- Joe Sullivan

Not knowing whether it would be Riga FC of Latvia or San Marinese side, Tre Fiori may have been bad enough, but the fact that their meeting on Thursday evening in the Skonto Stadium was abandoned after only eight minutes only added to the anxiety.

High winds saw debris fall from the stand roof and, despite there obviously being no supporters in the ground due to Coronavirus restrictions, the referee had no option other than to abandon the game.

However, the tie eventually went ahead the following morning with an early kick-off time, and the home side progressed with a 1-0 win over Tre Fiori thanks to a 57th-minute goal from Portuguese midfielder, Pedrinho.