Roberto Lopes, who was born in Dublin to a Cape Verdean father and Irish mother, made his debut for the country in 2019, having previously made one appearance for the Republic of Ireland Under-19s in 2011. The 33-year-old joined Shamrock Rovers - who have won the League of Ireland Premier Division a record 22 times - in 2017 and has made 269 appearances for the club, scoring 21 goals. He also captained Rovers to their first domestic double since 1987 last year.
Derry City will line out at Celtic Park for the very first time after securing a temporary move to the home of GAA in the Oak Leaf County while the Ryan McBride Brandywell pitch undergoes work.
From when I was a young child and I imagine every aspiring footballer when they were young, they wanted to play at the highest level possible and for me it doesn't go any further than the World Cup. It's the pinnacle of our sport,
Both managers made changes to their strongest teams, which was expected from a Sparta perspective ahead of Sunday's Prague derby but a little surprising from the Irish point of view considering Kerry are their FAI Cup opponents - Bradley said afterwards that the meeting with the First Division underdogs did influence his selection. Graham Burke is used to dropping out for away days in Europe to make room for Darragh Nugent, but Dylan Watts and Danny Mandroiu also joined him on the bench,
Stephen Bradley expressed significant dissatisfaction with his Shamrock Rovers team's performance, describing it as 'really poor', and emphasized the necessity for lessons to be learned during the mid-season break.