Champions League Returns: Why Cape Verde's World Cup Star Lopes Dominates Football Outpost Headlines

Far from the World Cup spotlight, the Champions League has restarted with Shamrock Rovers defender Roberto ‘Pico’ Lopes unable to play because of his memorable tournament run with Cape Verde.

In 10 games played Tuesday in the Champions League first qualifying round, the first goal of the season was scored in Gibraltar by a player even older than Cristiano Ronaldo — 41-year-old Nano, the left back for Lincoln Red Imps.

Lopes returned to Dublin on Monday three days after Cape Verde thrilled the World Cup by pushing defending champion Argentina and Lionel Messi to the limit in a 3-2 loss in the round of 32 at Miami Gardens.

Shamrock, where the 34-year-old Lopes has played since 2016, lost 2-0 to Floriana in the first leg in Malta.

“I’ll miss the game in Malta, unfortunately,” Lopes had told reporters at Dublin airport, “but I’m looking forward to getting back into training and getting back to doing what I love.”

Rovers hosts the second leg next Tuesday.

Champions League In Football Outposts

Champions League action played out Tuesday in a swath of football nations that never qualified for a World Cup — Gibraltar, San Marino, Faroe Islands — and one which did, Bosnia-Herzegovina.

Bosnian champion Borac Banja Luka drew its first leg at home, 1-1 against Levski Sofia, though without its only player who went to the World Cup, 18-year-old goalkeeper Mladen Jurkas.

In Gibraltar, Lincoln opened the competition’s scoring with a 16th-minute penalty by Nano in a 3-1 win over Inter Club d’Escaldes of Andorra.

Kairat's Return

Four more games will be played on Wednesday, including in Estonia, Moldova and Kazakhstan, where Kairat Almaty starts again in the first qualifying round.

Kairat reaching the lucrative main phase in the last edition and played Real Madrid, Arsenal and Inter Milan.

Belarus champion, Vitebsk, hosts its ‘home’ game in neutral Hungary with no fans in the stadium.

UEFA prohibited Belarusian teams hosting games since Russia's full military invasion of Ukraine in 2022. Russian teams remain suspended from all European competitions including the Champions League.

Conference League Starts

Games also started Tuesday in the first qualifying round of the third-tier Conference League, in Albania and Luxembourg.

The second-tier Europa League starts Thursday with teams that often play in the Champions League main phase. Qarabaq, Dynamo Kyiv and Ferencvaros are all in action.