Celtic’s fate in the next round of the UEFA Champions League qualifiers was revealed earlier today with either Dundalk or Rosenborg awaiting if, as expected, they see off Linfield.

The pantomime around tickets for this game, however, could still resonate in later rounds. Linfield’s decision to put tickets on general release has meant that there has been access to briefs for the encounter, meaning that in actual fact security arrangements could be all the more chaotic.

Linfield’s last-minute decision to create a section for Celtic supports, an announcement made on their website just hours before the game, has angered the Parkhead club who feel that they had taken every step possible to ensure that there would be no issues at the game.

The club made the decision weeks ago not to accept a ticket allocation yet it is believed they could still be held culpable of there are any issues inside the stadium this evening. That seems harsh given the lengths they have gone to in order to ensure that the game passes without incident.

Belfast City Council has funded a fan zone for Celtic football fans at a pub complex in west Belfast and has urged supporters to congregate there, while Linfield have attempted to place any Celtic fans together.

Given the tensions around the game and the belief that there was not adequate security to police the game, it was always going to be a dangerous call to make tickets freely available.

Brendan Rodgers yesterday spoke of his disappointment that in his homeland he couldn’t have friends and family at the game and it has been an incessant sideshow since the draw was made.

Grouping fans together at least gives some chance of maintain order but the timing of the decision and the manner in which it was done does nobody any favours. The call is all the more bizarre given the lengths the clubs went to in order to ensure the game would pass without incident.

Celtic’s call not to accept tickets divided supporters but was made after lengthy consultations with police and security. The war of words between the club over the ticketing decisions will only escalate if there is any trouble this evening.