It is not often Celtic finds itself loved for drubbing foreign opposition.
The Glasgow team this summer hammered La Liga minnows Eibar 4-1 in a pre-season friendly.
But supporters of the tiny Basque team - the smallest club in Spain's top flight - have effectively adopted the Glasgow side as their second favourites.
Their Eskozia La Brava fans' section - the name means "Scotland the Wild" as much as "Scotland the Brave" - is so keen on the relationship they have officially sought an audience with Nicola Sturgeon to seal the friendship.
"We don't want this to be just a memory of a game of football between Eibar and Celtic, we wish to continue broadening the ties between the two cities," said Eibar fan Maureen Burbidge.
Eibar - the town is smaller than Airdrie - has risen up through the divisions of Spanish football to La Liga for the first time this season.
Celtic was only the third foreign team to take to its tiny Ipurua stadium.
Celtic players were paraded through the city by bagpipers and given an official reception in the Town Hall.
El Diario Vasco, a Basque newspaper, quoted Brian Wilson, the former Blair minister and Celtic fan, as saying both clubs had grown out of the poverty that their respective cities had endured.
The Eskozia La Brava fans' group was set up at the turn of the century and has made numerous visits to Scotland. Their next trip is in October - and that is when they hope to meet Ms Sturgeon.
Sections of the Celtic support also have had a traditional of flying Basque flags. This has reflected the solidarity felt by those who back a united Ireland or an independent Scotland with the sovereignty movement in the Basque country.
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