Time to kick on

Sunday 9 September 2012

AGIM Ibraimi will come across many familiar issues as he embraces life in Scotland over the next three days.

Maribor's Agim Ibraimi scored against Rangers in the Europa League last season Photograph: AFP/Getty

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Phil Gordon

He has flown into a country where separation from a larger state is at the forefront of public debate and into a city where football polarises the locals, with two clubs divided by religion.

The Macedonian midfielder already knows all about Rangers. He helped Maribor knock the Ibrox club out of the Europa League last season. When the 24-year-old playmaker clubbed a left-foot shot beyond Allan McGregor in August last year, he may have become a hero to Celtic supporters, but nursing an ambition to play in Britain one day, he recognises that playing well against Scotland on Tuesday would be a way of earning more respect at Celtic Park.

Ibraimi knows all about that sort of in-fighting. He comes from the town of Tetovo, where those with Alban-ian backgrounds, like him, play for FK Shkendija, while the Macedon- ians support FK Teteks: it is Muslims against Orthodox Christians.Perhaps that is why Ibraimi got out at a young age when he moved to Austria at 18 to join Red Bull Salzburg. He speaks five languages, including English, after playing in Turkey, Austria and Slovenia, showing he has talent on and off the pitch.The term "Macedonia" was banned by its former Yugoslav rulers, so its population of just over two million prize their hard-won independence. Few of the nation's star footballers stay at home, however. Just two of the squad who flew into Glasgow last night after the match with Croatia play in Macedonia, both for champions Vardar Skopje.The rest, like Ibraimi, earn their living abroad. The most notable is Goran Pandev, currently with Napoli. However, if Ibraimi repeats the goal he conjured up against McGregor in Maribor in the 2-1 win, before drawing 1-1 at Ibrox, then he could also move to a higher league."The victory against Rangers was one of the best moments of my career," said Ibraimi. "I scored from outside the box to make it 1-1. It was not my best goal because I also scored from 30 yards against England's Under 21s, but it was an important goal that gave us belief."Beating Rangers was a big step forward for my career and the goal helped. I hope that I can do the same when I come to Glasgow. The fact that it is the same goalkeeper is interesting but it is not the same game. Now we face Scotland, and we know you are a tough country to beat."I cannot believe that Rangers, such a big European club, could fall so much. Players from the Balkan countries are all interested in British football and read so much about it, which is why we love playing against those clubs or countries."We know everything about Celtic and Rangers. I saw Rangers got 45,000 fans for a fourth division game. That is incredible. Ibrox was a great place to play and I know Hampden will be, too. I missed the game when Macedonia lost there three years ago because I was injured."We all know that Scottish football is like English football – it is dynamic. Everyone wants to play in the English league and the fact Goran Popov has now joined West Brom from Dynamo Kiev is good for the reputation and development of Macedonian football."Macedonia have never qualified for the World Cup finals and Ibraimi admits they must start punching above their weight, like Slovenia, who did so in 2002 and 2010. "We need to take a new step in our football history. We have good players but we do not have the infrastructure at home in our own league, so our players must move abroad."Everyone knows Goran Pandev from Lazio and Inter Milan. Now he's moved to Napoli. He's Macedonia's most famous player. Pandev is our leader. We want to follow his footsteps and play for big clubs. Maybe that would be Italy but I like Britain and I would love to come to England or Scotland. Celtic are in the Champions League and that would be a great club to join."Maribor came close to getting into the Champions League but we were knocked out in the qualifying round by Dinamo Zagreb. However, we are in the Europa League. Our group has Tottenham Hotspur, Panathinaikos and Lazio, so I will have the chance to show what I can do."

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