Real Madrid 4-0 Celtic – Scoreline flatters hosts, Celtic magnificent for 70 minutes | OneFootball

Celtic FC Women suffer unfortunate UEFA Women’s Champions League defeat as Real Madrid got a 4-0 victory over the Ghirls…

Players of Celtic pose for a team photograph prior to the UEFA Women’s Champions League match between Real Madrid CF and Celtic FC at Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano on October 17, 2024 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)

Right off the bat, Murphy Agnew tried using her pace to give Celtic the advantage but the European giants that are Real defended well. They pushed us back into our own half in the opening stages but great, structured defending from Caitlin Hayes, Kelly Clark and Bruna Lourenco ensured that they were kept out.

That was until the seventh minute, when Caroline Weir’s unstoppable strike flew into the back of the net. It was a brilliant shot that Kelsey Daugherty stood no chance of getting, and an unfortunate way to concede.

Players of Real Madrid pose for a team photograph prior to the UEFA Women’s Champions League match between Real Madrid CF and Celtic FC at Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano on October 17, 2024 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)

We managed to keep the ball out of our net for the rest of the first half but they also managed to keep us at bay. Amy Gallacher looked to combine with Agnew to break into the Real area but the defence was just too strong as the Celts couldn’t pull one back before the break.

As the second half got underway, we managed to work some chances before the hour mark. The most notable was when Lawton managed to beat the offside trap, closing in on goal and opting to take it on herself, striking the side netting despite her best attempts.

A few minutes later, Agnew had the chance to strike from distance but it flew narrowly over the bar. It was certainly a shot that the goalkeeper seemed concerned about though.

The game entered the final 20 minutes and things would quickly go downhill for the Celts. Real doubled their advantage with 72 minutes on the clock, before our defence was caught out shortly after, allowing the hosts to chip Daugherty from range.

The Spanish side converted from the penalty spot with eight minutes left to play to see Celtic off. Daugherty got a hand to it but it was too strong of a strike for her to keep out.

Unfortunate result – Celtic deserved better

Alba Redondo of Real Madrid is challenged by Lucy Ashworth-Clifford of Celtic during the UEFA Women’s Champions League match between Real Madrid CF and Celtic FC at Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano on October 17, 2024 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)

It was an unfortunate result in Madrid but the Ghirls put in a good showing of themselves. After the narrow loss to Hearts at the weekend, managing to hold a fantastic side like Real to a small scoreline for most of the game isn’t too bad. Considering most people had written us off for destruction by the hosts before we had even kicked off, our performance before the second goal is something to build on.

Elena Sadiku speaks to The Celtic Star shortly after final whistle

Elena Sadiku, Head Coach of Celtic, looks on prior to the UEFA Women’s Champions League match between Real Madrid CF and Celtic FC at Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano on October 17, 2024 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Image

Speaking to The Celtic Star directly after the game, Elena Sadiku said: “Sometimes we lost the focus on exactly what we were supposed to do because we wanted to jump on the next action. Right now though, I feel very proud of the girls because they did exactly what I was talking about before the game. Being confident, being brave and playing football like we can. We were really competing for 70 minutes.”

The Difference in Quality

Colette Cavanagh of Celtic passes the ball under pressure from Filippa Angeldal of Real Madrid during the UEFA Women’s Champions League match between Real Madrid CF and Celtic FC at Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano on October 17, 2024 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)

Despite Real being much better off financially than us and being ranked far better, I think we did especially well when you consider the difference in quality. Their squad features Champions League and World Cup winners but the Ghirls certainly proved to everyone that they can compete tonight.

Sadiku said: “Real is filled with quality players that come in and does really well. But how we defended against top quality players [was good]. I think everyone home in Scotland needs to see this team and be proud. Not you, not anybody from Scotland believed we were going to be sitting here today. So we should be proud and we should support the girls because what we are doing is something really good.”

Chance to Compete

Caroline Weir of Real Madrid is challenged by Amy Gallacher and Natalie Ross of Celtic during the UEFA Women’s Champions League match between Real Madrid CF and Celtic FC at Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano on October 17, 2024 in Madrid, Spain. (Photo by Florencia Tan Jun/Getty Images)

With two difficult back-to-back ties against Chelsea on the horizon, we have to analyse this game and figure out the aspects of our game that allowed us to compete with Real for most of the game. Yes, we were on the backfoot, but we kept them out, despite them trying to carve us open.

Chelsea beat Real on the opening day of the group stage so we’re certainly in for a tricky game, but with the game being hosted at Celtic Park, hopefully a large Celtic support will get down to back the Ghirls like they did against Twente.

Kelly Clark speaks to The Celtic Star shortly after final whistle

Speaking on the confidence that the performance against Real can give going into the rest of the group stage games, Kelly Clark told The Celtic Star: “Against Twente, we were good defensively but we were a bit disappointing when we had the ball. After that second half tonight, we showed ourselves that we can do the defensive dirty job but we can also play football when we get it.

“We constantly talk about the fact that we’re basically under no pressure in this group. We’re the fourth seed and I think everyone probably expected us to get battered, and I don’t think so far we’ve been battered.

October 17, 2024, Valdebebas, Madrid, SPAIN: Elena Sadiku, head coach of Celtic, gestures during the UEFA WomenÃââ s Champions League, Group B, football match played between Real Madrid and Celtic FC at Alfredo Di Stefano stadium on October 17, 2024, in Valdebebas, Madrid, Spain. Photo Dennis Agyeman

“4-0 is probably a couple more goals than we would’ve liked it to be today but a few weeks ago when the draw came out, if you would’ve gotten people to predict what was going to happen, the performances that we put in so far are probably not what people would’ve said. They would’ve potentially totally written us off and I genuinely think that with these performances, we’ve proven any doubters wrong.

“We’ll analyse back this game, especially before we play against Chelsea, and show everybody exactly how good we were on the ball. We also do want to learn from the mistakes but I think the most important part of tonight was how well we did when we got it. I think it should give us more confidence because I’m really proud of how we played football tonight.”

Back to league duties

The Ghirls return to Scotland with a game on Sunday, 20 October. Three days to recover before we take on Spartans in Hamilton. After losing against Hearts, hopefully a victory against another Edinburgh side to narrow the gap between us and the top of the SWPL table.

Well done Ghirls tonight , even if it wasn’t the result your performance merited, you still did us proud.

Jessica Elliott

Celtic in the Thirties by Celtic Historian Matt Corr is published in two volumes by Celtic Star Books. ORDER NOW!

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