ELENA Sadiku has dismissed fears the mentally and physically draining Champions League meeting with Chelsea in midweek will have an adverse impact on Celtic’s performance against Rangers and insisted her players can draw confidence from the outing.
Sadiku’s side, who are playing Europe’s elite club competition for the first time in their history this season, narrowly lost their game against the seven-time English champions 2-1 at Parkhead on Wednesday evening and remained in bottom spot in Group B.
However, the Swedish coach was proud of how Kelly Clark and her team mates competed with their revered opponents and has no concerns about them suffering from a hangover when they face their city rivals in a SWPL 1 match at New Douglas Park tomorrow at noon.
If anything, she believes their self-belief will be bolstered by how close they ran the formidable Stamford Bridge outfit.
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“We talked about the schedule before,” said Sadiku. “We accept how many games we have and look forward to the challenges. So far, I think the players have responded great. I don't think that they have their focus anywhere else other than how we can create a great performance again.
“We're playing against a good opponent. We know what kind of a team Rangers are, what their threats are and how we can exploit them. But it's a challenge like we've had before. For me, it's just more about building on what we've been doing lately, what we showed against Chelsea the other night.
“Do we think, ‘Oh, it's so hard!’? Or are we actually excited and looking forward to it? I don't think the girls are happy after the performance against Chelsea. They deserved something out of it. I think they want more and they should want more because we have a great quality in the team.
“Obviously, the Champions League is the highest stage you can perform on. We’re there to learn and grow. But we've been saying from the start that we want to compete. It feels like we're not that far away. I think Wednesday just showed us that we can do it.
“To be honest, I feel like how we have played has been something that other teams maybe should look at. We have played against high quality players, but we have still managed to play through the pressure and to create chances. We've also been defending well. I'm just really happy with how confident and brave the girls have been.”
“I think after Wednesday we will have a bit of fire,” she said. “As Elena said, we felt a bit hard done to. We can give more. Going into Sunday, there's no reason why we won't be able to do that.
“That's what we've said in the changing room after the game. If we can do that on a Wednesday, why can't we go and do it on a Sunday? It just shows the strength that we have in our squad. No matter who comes in, who comes out, it doesn't really matter because they show the same performance week in and week out.”
Celtic, who fought back from 2-0 down to earn a 2-2 draw when they played Rangers at Broadwood at the start of last month, are currently two points behind leaders Glasgow City in the SWPL 1 table after 12 matches. Ashworth-Clifford expects the Scottish title race to be another close-run affair regardless of the result tomorrow.
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“It's early days, we're only in November,” she said. “I don't know where we were at this point last season, but it was probably around the same mark, I think it was still neck and neck then, it was neck and neck right until the very last game. I think it makes it even more exciting.”
Sadiku, who expects to have Colette Cavanagh available for selection, was frustrated at the two goal lead Celtic gifted Rangers when they played them last month and is keen to see her girls perform at their best from kick-off to the final whistle tomorrow afternoon.
“The belief needs to be there from the start,” she said. “So I think for me it's about being confident from the start and being brave from the start, showing how much we want to win the game and not waiting until half time.”
