Away from the Glasgow Derby for a second as attention turns to the Celtic Women’s team and their UEFA Women’s Champions League adventure.
Elena Sadiku’s side qualified for the elite UEFA tournament after winning their first-ever SWPL title last season with a superior goal difference to Rangers’.
This morning, Celtic Women kicked off their first-round Group 3 Champions League qualifier against Finnish champions, KuPS Kuopio at the Šiauliai Central Stadium in Lithuania.
Sadiku’s side were looking to book their place in the final against either Gintra or Agarista Anenii Noi who both face off at 4pm this afternoon to qualify for the next round.
Celtic’s first-half Champions League struggles
Celtic has a nervy first-half tussle with the Finns in which the Ghirls struggled to get a grip of the game.
Sadiku’s side applied some early pressure on KuPS but just couldn’t find any penetration despite Hana Kerner causing the Finnish champions some problems on the right flank.
However, in the 18th minute, KuPS took the lead after Mathilde Carstens lost possession in the Hoops midfield as Nigerian striker, Roosa Ariyo, fired a shot past Celtic ‘keeper Kelsey Daugherty into the bottom corner.
Celtic fashioned a couple of other chances in the first half but just couldn’t find that much-needed equaliser and went in at the break 1-0 down.
A second-half Celtic revival
However, Celtic looked a different side and started the second half with some real urgency as Caitlin Hayes saw her 47th-minute effort saved by the KuPS ‘keeper.
On the 57th-minute the Finns threatened Celtic’s goal but Kelsey Daugherty was equal to the shot and tipped it over the bar.
Then came the turning point for Celtic in the 61st minute. A double substitute paid off as Sadiku replaced Murphy Agnew and Mathilde Carstens with Kit Loferski and Saoirse Noonan.
Three minutes later Noonan had Celtic back in it with a close-range header to level the scores at 1-1.
Celtic continued to pile on the pressure and had a shout for a penalty denied in the 82nd minute after Loferski went down in the box.
Despite heavy Celtic pressure in the final 25 minutes, the scores remained 1-1 and the Ghirls headed into extra time.
Celtic’s blistering extra-time charge
Celtic came out of the traps in extra-time as Elena Sadiku’s second-half double substitution paid off with Loferski assisting Noonan as the Irish striker netted her second of the game to put the Hoops 2-1 up in the 91st minute.
Six minutes later Noonan was at hand again as she fired in another for her hattrick in the 98th minute to put Celtic 3-1 up and the game virtually out of reach for the Finns.
After that, it was just a case of seeing out the second half which Celtic did with ease as the deflated Finns ran out of steam especially after the Ghirls rattled the woodwork deep into the second half of extra-time.
Noonan’s substitute appearance was simply incredible and Sadiku’s decision to put the Celtic striker on was inspired as she completely changed the course of the match.
Celtic Women now progress to the final or round one on the 7th of September where Sadiku will hope to make history to progress and qualify for the group stages for the first time in Celtic’s history.
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