Celtic and Rangers take opposite steps in UEFA Women's Champions League qualification

After Wednesday night's ties, it was time for more UEFA Women's Champions League qualification games. Celtic had won through to play in a round one final on Saturday. Rangers had a third-place playoff instead.

Rangers were hopeful of a better result having lost heavily 6-0 at Arsenal in midweek. It left them playing Atletico Madrid for third place in their mini-group. Despite their early run of form in the SWPL, it wasn’t to be the case for Rangers.

A 3-0 defeat left Rangers fourth. Their play in both matches deserved more than the level of goals against. However, the results do leave a question mark on the extent of the step up from SWPL to Champions League. Arsenal went on to win 1-0 against Rosenborg in the mini-group final. 

Celtic take a step towards a Women’s Champions League group place

Celtic’s turn came later on Saturday as they faced FC Gintra of Lithuania in their round one final. They’d beaten Finnish side FC KuPS 3-1 to reach this stage. The winner between Celtic and Gintra would go through to round two. From there they’d be a two-legged tie away from the group stage last 16 phase of the UEFA Women's Champions League. 

The hoops made a good start and were a goal up after 21 minutes. A fine long-range shot from Shannon McGregor gave them the lead. Although they remained in control it’s always a nervous time at 1-0. After 81 minutes the hoops got a header from Kit Loferski made it 2-0, sealing the result and progressing to the next round.

The draw for the next round took place on Monday and has paired Celtic with Ukrainian side FC Vorskla Poltavax. The order and venues for the two-legged ties will be finalized soon. It’s great news for Celtic to keep progressing, perhaps the SWPL differential in Europe isn’t so great. We’ll see how that looks when the games are played later this month.