Lucas Lingman had more than an inkling of what to expect when he and his RoPS team-mates faced Aberdeen in their Europa League first-round qualifier at Pittodrie because of his frequent TV viewing of Scottish football.
Why would a 21-year-old Finn from a team based in the town of Rovaniemi, the capital of Lapland and four miles south of the Arctic Circle, show an interest in our game? To follow the progress of his former colleague at HJK Helsinki, one Alfredo Morelos, a player he admires greatly despite accepting he is “crazy”.
Lingman, a gifted midfielder, whose slide-rule pass into the Aberdeen penalty box flummoxed the home defence and left Tommi Jantti to score a crucial away goal in stoppage time, highlighted his eye for an opportunity, made it clear he was a fan of Morelos and predicted the Rangers frontman is destined for bigger things.
“I played before in Helsinki at the same time Morelos was there and he was unbelievable.
READ MORE: David Healy hopes Jordan Jones won't be caught in headlights at Rangers
“He was a great scorer in Helsinki and Scottish football has seen that, too. I am not surprised he’s done so well in Scotland. He’s mentally and physically fit enough to compete.
“If he continues to score at the rate he has done in Scotland then he can win a move to a bigger club in England. Of course he can.”
Lingman admitted the Colombian, no stranger to indiscipline in his first season at Ibrox, was always volatile during his year at HJK – partly on loan – when he netted 27 goals in 42 games for the Finnish outfit.
“Yes, he was always a bit crazy. Mentally, he was so strong," said Lingman.
“He doesn’t care if you kick him, but in Finland he wasn’t kicked as much as he is in Scotland.
“I’ve seen him on TV in a few games and you can see how opponents know what he’s like and they try to get inside his head.
“But he’s Latino and he heats up.
“I hope he can play at a higher level because he is a very good player and a good person and I wish the best for him.”
Lingman rightly highlighted his side’s shock goal with 40 seconds of the first leg remaining, a boost going into the second game at Rovaniemi on Thursday where Aberdeen may feel on shaky ground.
He said: “The away goal is so important. Nobody expected us to score and it means we have come away with a good result from our point of view.
“We are so happy with this result. I think Aberdeen became tired but so did we.
“Maybe they took their feet off the gas and that gave us a chance.
“Their lack of games also helped. They tried to keep it at 2-0 and not attack but that gave us an opportunity.
“We have to trust ourselves in the home tie in Finland. If we just hold on to the ball, however, it will give us nothing. We will have to attack them and play as we do in the league in Finland.
READ MORE: Alex Jones doesn't mind doing Kenny Miller's running at Partick Thistle
“That was harder for us to do at Aberdeen.
“I don’t know how things will turn out for us at home. Aberdeen are professional and I’m not sure the artificial we play on will be an advantage because they’re used to playing on those pitches.
“But there is pressure on us. They are a big team and a good side.
Nobody expects much from us and I don’t know if we will have the pressure to win the tie.
“I don’t know if our fans would have been shocked by our first-leg result but they would not have been disappointed because it gives them hope that we produce something at home. And we won’t lose hope either.”
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel