Red-letter day for Blues - as Windsor Park makes ready for Celtic
Linfield set up glamour tie with Brendan Rodgers men after seeing off La Fiorita
Linfield have secured a money-spinning Champions League showdown with Celtic.
They drew 0-0 with La Fiorita – the minnows of San Marino – to win 1-0 on aggregate and go through to the second qualifying stage of the tournament.
Jordan Stewart’s dramatic late strike in the first leg at Windsor proved crucial.
Blues boss David Healy said his players deserved all the credit.
He told Linfield FC.com that his players were prepared for what lay ahead.
“Brendan (Rodgers) is a top class manager and we will certainly have our work cut out against them but it is one these players should relish they will probably never get the opportunity again to play Celtic again in the Champions League and we will be full of hope and we will ready to give them a right good game,” he said.
“To put ourselves in the next round we were fully aware of who the carrot was in the next round and we were fully aware of that.”
The second qualifying first leg match against Celtic takes place on July 14 – kick-off 5pm.
Celtic had already said they would not be taking fans to Windsor due to potential safety concerns and last night it was confirmed no tickets would be made available to away supporters.
The glamour game could net Linfield a cool £1m