Linfield’s Shelbourne rematch ‘silly’ – Shields

Linfield midfielder Chris Shields says it is “a bit silly” that the Blues and Shelbourne will meet for a second time in European qualification this season.

The clubs met in Champions League qualifying in July, with the League of Ireland champions winning 2-1 on aggregate, before the Dublin side lost to Qarabag and Rijeka in subsequent qualifiers to drop down into a Conference League playoff.

After that defeat to Shels, Linfield negotiated ties against Lithuania’s Zalgiris and Vikingur of the Faroe Islands, setting up a winner-takes-all rematch between the teams for a place in the group phase.

The first leg will take place at Shelbourne’s home ground of Tolka Park on Thursday (19:45 BST) with the return at Windsor Park to follow the next week, but Shields believes the rematch is inconsistent when compared to how Uefa organise their group formats.

“It’s a rule Uefa could go about tweaking,” Shields told Sportsound on BBC Radio Ulster.

“To play the same team twice in a six-week period is a bit silly.

The 34-year-old Dubliner has previous group stage experience in Europe with Dundalk in 2016 and 2020 and said it would be “the pinnacle” for a lot of the squad should the Blues turn the tables on the League of Ireland champions this time around.

“The likes of Jamie Mulgrew, Kirk Millar… It’s Kirk’s testimonial year this year, so no more fitting year to get into the group stage,” he said.

“People who’ve been at the club a long time, David (Healy) the manager for a long time and (kit manager) Gary Eccles here for 41 years – it would be good for these people to get to the group stage.”

Shields missed the first leg of the Champions League qualifier at Tolka Park in July due to suspension but is available for Thursday’s return to Dublin which could see him make his 60th appearance in European competition.

That game was Linfield’s first competitive fixture of the new campaign with Shelbourne midway through their own domestic season and Shields is hopeful the “minutes in the legs” since will put the Blues in a better position this time around.

“We’re definitely better prepared,” he added.

“We’ve had six European matches and every one of them were tough and challenging matches [that] you are never going to get with a friendly, plus the Dungannon (league) game last weekend.