Scottish giants Celtic crashed to a 1-0 Champions League defeat to Lincoln Red Imps on Tuesday with the goal scored by Lee Casciaro, a policeman in his day job.

Manager Brendan Rodgers' first competitive match in charge was a humiliating affair, with 34-year-old Casciaro inflicting the hammer blow in the 48th minute.

"Surreal, it's what people dream about, beating a big club like Celtic, we've done it here," the match winner said.

"Getting the winning goal is something that will be with me for the rest of my life," he added.

"Historic result for our club tonight. A brave performance by our lads has delivered a dream result. Well done to all!" Lincoln tweeted.

This was one of 1967 European champions' Celtic's worst ever defeats in the competition, and it left the Hoops counting on turning the second qualifying tie around in the return leg at Parkhead next week.

For Rodgers it was the worst possible start to his Celtic career, the former Liverpool boss having replaced Ronny Deila in May.

Celtic turned up in Gibraltar for their first competitive fixture of the season as overwhelming favourites against their semi-professional opponents who also included a taxi driver, a fireman in their line-up.

"It's [football] like a hobby for us," Casciaro said.

Gibraltar's Red Imps have dominated the domestic game in recent times, much like Celtic, winning the last 14 league titles.

Celtic struggled in the heat and then got caught out by Casciaro, scorer of Gibraltar's first international goal against Scotland at Hampden in 2015, who scored from 12 yards.

Despite sustained late pressure from Celtic Lincoln held out for a famous victory in front of a crowd of around 2,000.

Rodgers tried to inject a sense of realism to the topsy turvy outcome.

“There is no embarrassment," he said. "It was a tough game in tough conditions. We didn't take our chances. We have seen enough to see that we can get through in the second leg. Of course you are disappointed to lose. The result here complicates it a bit for us. We move on to next week."