Celtic FC Women are out of the UEFA Women’s Champions League after a dramatic penalty shoot-out defeat against Valerenga in Norway.
Celtic lost a very early goal to the Norwegians but soon equalised after nine minutes thanks to Kit Loferski. One of this season’s standouts – Amy Gallacher – capitalised on slack play in the Valerenga defence before threading through a pinpoint pass for Loferski. The striker expertly tucked it into the far corner with a left-footed finish.
The fixture was well-contested throughout. Both the home side and the Ghirls had periods of good possession and chances. Celtic goalkeeper Kelsey Daugherty had plenty to do and made some strong stops to keep the scores level in regulation time.
Fran Alonso’s side kept pushing for a winner and forced a couple of opportunities from set pieces, but the whistle eventually went, with the two foes heading into a gruelling extra time period.
The biggest chance of the first period after the 90 minutes came just before the interval when Chloe Craig got on the end of Caitlin Hayes’ header from a set-piece, but Valerenga survived after scrambling the ball off the line.
Then, with just five minutes remaining of the 120, Jenny Smith fired home from Maria McAneny’s low cross. It was well deserved, with Celtic eventually wearing down a very tired-looking Valerenga. The match looked to have been won.
Unbelievably, the Norwegians had one last chance when Hayes conceded a 120th-minute penalty. It was converted and the match went on to a full penalty shoot-out at 2-2 after extra-time.
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Heartbreakingly, despite her superb performance throughout the match, it was goalkeeper Daughtery who missed the fateful penalty, with Celtic losing 11-10 in a marathon shootout.
In other news, Celebrating goals they didn’t score; hilarious Celtic Rangers video emerges.