Celtic women can be proud despite narrow Champions League defeat

It was Champions League time again at Celtic Park, Glasgow. The men’s team had a fabulous win the previous week against RB Leipzig, now it was the Celtic women’s turn to take to the pitch in the prestigious competition. Their match against Chelsea had been scheduled at the club's stadium to help ensure a good atmosphere and crowd. 

This always looked like a tough time for Celtic and as the match approached nothing had changed. Chelsea had maximum points from their Champions League games this season. They have six wins out of six in the Super League too. Celtic have yet to score a goal in the Champions League group stages. They came to this match having played 120 minutes on Sunday to get past Glasgow City in the Sky Sports Cup on penalties. 

Wednesday night‘s match saw Chelsea apply early pressure on the Scottish champions, but there was a surprise on 22 minutes. Celtic took the lead 1-0 with a great goal from Murphy Agnew aided by a wonderful Amy Gallacher assist. It certainly shocked Chelsea and really got the home crowd going.  

Celtic defend strongly despite narrow defeat

But the lead was short-lived as just a few minutes later Maika Hamano got one back for the visitors. That was quickly followed by a second for Chelsea through Ashley Lawrence on 32 minutes and on to a halftime 2-1 lead for them at halftime. The second half saw plenty of pressure from Chelsea as they looked for a third goal. But it wasn't to come as the Celtic defense remained strong. The match remained 2-1 at full-time.

The BBC statistics from the game tell the tale well. Chelsea with 72% possession had 26 attempts on goal, 12 on target. Celtic had just three goal attempts, two on target and were clearly tiring towards the end, but held firm.

In the end it’s another defeat and they still sit at the bottom of their group. Next up in the competition is a visit to Chelsea, which will be another hard challenge. Elena Sadiku and her side will have taken a boost from the match though, the goal giving them added confidence. It was always going to be a learning experience at this level but the team did themselves proud with their performance in a narrow defeat.