{"id":39366,"date":"2026-07-15T10:22:28","date_gmt":"2026-07-15T10:22:28","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/world-cup-star-lopez-returns-to-the-champions-league-captaining-shamrock-rovers-to-victory\/"},"modified":"2026-07-15T10:22:28","modified_gmt":"2026-07-15T10:22:28","slug":"world-cup-star-lopez-returns-to-the-champions-league-captaining-shamrock-rovers-to-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/world-cup-star-lopez-returns-to-the-champions-league-captaining-shamrock-rovers-to-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"World Cup star Lopez returns to the Champions League, captaining Shamrock Rovers to victory"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<p>DUBLIN (AP) \u2014 <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">world cup<\/span> Star player Roberto &#8216;Pico&#8217; L\u00f3pez returned to action in the Champions League on Tuesday, captaining Shamrock Rovers to the second qualifying round.<\/p>\n<p>Just 11 days after the match between Lionel Messi and the Argentina national team, <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">epic world cup round 32 game<\/span>Cape Verde defender L\u00f3pez led the Dublin club to a 5-1 win against Maltese champions Floriana in the second leg.<\/p>\n<p>Rovers advanced with a 5-3 aggregate score and will now play Ararat against Armenia next week. Rovers need to progress through four qualifying rounds to enter the favored 36-team main phase, which begins in September.<\/p>\n<p>In the second qualifying round, former European Cup winners Red Star Belgrade will face Northern Ireland champions Larne. Larne defeated Tre Fiori (San Marino) 2-1 on Tuesday to advance by an aggregate score of 3-1.<\/p>\n<p>Iceland&#8217;s Vikings drew 2-2 with Gyri Et in Hungary and advanced with a total of three wins and two losses, and will face Hapoel Beersheva in the next round. <\/p>\n<p>The Vikings may have to return to Hungary for the second leg on July 28 or 29. Israeli clubs are unable to host home games in UEFA competitions due to security reasons, and Hapoel Beersheva chose the Hungarian stadium as a neutral venue for last season&#8217;s European qualifiers.<\/p>\n<p>___<\/p>\n<p>AP Soccer: <span class=\"LinkEnhancement\">https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/span><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p><br \/>\n<br \/><a href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/cape-verde-lopes-shamrock-champions-league-c3f91da16a82a8a00297dcd2ce6d107f\">Source link <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>DUBLIN (AP) \u2014 world cup Star player Roberto &#8216;Pico&#8217; L\u00f3pez returned to action in the Champions League on Tuesday, captaining Shamrock Rovers to the second qualifying round. Just 11 days after the match between Lionel Messi and the Argentina national team, epic world cup round 32 gameCape Verde defender L\u00f3pez led the Dublin club to<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":39367,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[28],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-39366","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-soccer"},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v25.5 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>World Cup star Lopez returns to the Champions League, captaining Shamrock Rovers to victory - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/eplvip.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/15\/world-cup-star-lopez-returns-to-the-champions-league-captaining-shamrock-rovers-to-victory\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"World Cup star Lopez returns to the Champions League, captaining Shamrock Rovers to victory - EPL VIP \u2013 Latest English Premier League News &amp; Updates\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"DUBLIN (AP) \u2014 world cup Star player Roberto &#8216;Pico&#8217; L\u00f3pez returned to action in the Champions League on Tuesday, captaining Shamrock Rovers to the second qualifying round. 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