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Belfast Live
Belfast Live
Sport
James Gould

Linfield vs Fola Esch: Matthew Clarke's pride as he hits European milestone

Matthew Clarke has moved up to third in Linfield's all-time European appearance list.

The defender recently notched up game number 30 for the Blues in Europe.

He will look to add to that on Tuesday when Linfield take on Fola Esch in the third qualifying round of the Europa Conference League.

Linfield's record European appearance holder is captain Jamie Mulgrew who is in line to play his 45th game for the club in tonight’s first leg tie against Fola Esch.

The second highest is legendary former club captain Noel Bailie MBE who clocked up 36 European appearances for the club.

At just 27, Clarke could end up overtaking both the players in front of him.

Posting on social media, Clake said: "Very proud to be in the top three at our club! Hopefully many more to come"

Linfield head into the home leg of their third qualifying round showdown with Fola Esch on the crest of a wave following a 4-0 aggregate win over FK Borac Banja Luka.

A thumping 4-0 win in Belfast a fortnight ago was backed up by an equally impressive 0-0 draw with the Bosnian champions in Banja Luka on Thursday night.

Speaking ahead of the match Blues boss David Healy said:“We want to see a similar sort of performance to the Borac one and hopefully we can give ourselves a real shot of going into the second leg with a chance.

“They probably upset the odds in the last round, beating the Belarus champions (Shakhtyor Soligorsk), but they won both games, so it wasn’t as if it was a fluke in extra-time or penalties.

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