So close but yet so far for the Ghirls

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Celtic F.C.

·9. Oktober 2024

So close but yet so far for the Ghirls

In Tuesday’s opening UEFA Champions League Group B for Celtic’s Ghirls, there was no doubting the quality of Dutch champions, FC Twente, but that it took sucker-punch goals near the end of each half to take the game speaks volumes as to how much effort Elena Sadiku’s team put into the game.

Twente’s top scorer, Kayleigh van Dooren struck in the 44th and 85th minutes of the game with goals that paid testament to their possession and passing stats, but the Ghirls never looked out of place on the European stage and were unlucky not to get on the scoresheet themselves on a couple of occasions.

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The Head Coach said: “First of all, I’m proud because we put a good effort in, we created some chances to score goals, we defended really well, but we had two errors, and obviously we got hurt from that.

‘We had a lot of corners, and we should probably have scored in one of them, but I’m proud because the effort was there.’

“We fought hard. But I’m still disappointed because I feel like we should have done more.

“Like I said, the effort and the fight were there and I think now that we know what to expect I think the second game will be even better.

“We defended really well, they didn’t create too many chances. The first goal should never have been a goal, we should have defended much better.

“The second goal was an error because we were not in a position to cover that space.

“But we also need to learn that if we defend that well, we also need to be much better with the ball when we have it.

“That’s something that we need to do better for the next game because we need to learn. Domestically we are dominating, we are a great team, but when we come out in Europe, we have teams to face like this, and it’s a different level.”

With a host of stars such as Chloe Craig, Hannah Kerner, Lucy Ashworth-Clifford, Amy Gallacher and Kit Loferski all out with injury, the Celts put in a battling display

Sadiku added: “We missed out on some great players as well. We put that effort in and missed very important players, is shows again how strong our squad is.

“We have a game on Sunday against Hearts away, that’s going to be a tough test, so now it’s about recovery and getting ready for that game”