Elena Sadiku: Show the fire and passion in derby | OneFootball

Friday is derby day for Elena Sadiku and her team as the Celts make the crosstown trip to Ibrox to take on Rangers is the SWPL tomorrow night

The Celts go into the game three points ahead of, and two places above their rivals, and the Head Coach is relishing the derby action.

The Swede said: “I’m so excited. I said to the players yesterday, it’s the best game. It’s more than just a game, and obviously that’s the most exciting part of playing in this league.

“The belief is going to be stronger than tactics. The desire, the togetherness and everything that we’ve talked about during this week is going to be very, very important.

“For me there’s a strong belief right now and we know it’s going to be a tough game, but we need to have a strong belief because that’s the only way we can make it.”

She added: “I want us to make sure we go out there, enjoy and have the strong belief, and we play really, really well.

“I’m not talking about playing really well in terms of executing and playing really good football.

“That’s what I want to see. I want to win so bad, and I want us to be top and show that we are competing for winning the league and winning the cups.

“But I just want to focus on tomorrow because it’s a derby game and we know how much it means for our fans, for us, and that’s going to be the biggest focus.

“I want to make sure that my players enjoy and deliver for us tomorrow.”

This time last year, the Celts were also involved in Champions League group stage football, but this year have had more time to work on the training ground.

Sadiku said: “I can see that we grow as a team week after week because we have so much training.

“The consistency had been a big part of it, but I do think it’s good because now we can focus on building because we have pretty much a new team.

“That’s something that I don’t think many talk about, but it’s the truth, we have a new team. But the best part with this group is that they have a mentality that is very strong.

“They want to compete, they want to be the best, they put in hard work every single week, and that’s what makes me feel like we’re building something special with this team.”

The last time the Ghirls visited Ibrox, they did so without any traveling fans, but that has changed this time.

The Head Coach is hoping the Celtic fans can play their part on the night.

She said:  “Our fans mean everything for us. Without the fans it’s pretty much nothing and for us to see them there, obviously it’s going to be a massive thing because we know that our fans are the loudest.

“And that will bring the energy and the feeling that we have 12 players on the pitch.

“And, for the players, like I said, to create that strong belief and having that fire is something that the fans always help us with.

“So I really hope that we’ll see many fans tomorrow."

Watch the full interview to hear Elena on:

More on the game:

Fixtures

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