Another tough lesson but Celtic women keep building their experience

Celtic women’s soccer team have taken a big step forward in experience levels with two UEFA Women’s Champions League ties against Chelsea this week and last. They’ve also learned some lessons and a lot about themselves from the two games. Last week's tie was at Celtic Park and on Wednesday night the two sides faced off at Stamford Bridge, London. Those are huge stadiums for big occasions. 

After a strong performance at home last week Celtic women had another big step up to make in this, their first Champions League season in the group stage. They took a surprise lead at home last week and after conceding two first-half goals soon afterward, defended well with Chelsea unable to add to their two-goal tally. That 1-2 loss to Chelsea showed Celtic could compete at this level.

On Wednesday it was Chelsea who were quickly off the mark. An early goal came from Lucy Bronze with just one minute gone and could have unsettled the Scottish champions. A second goal for Chelsea through Wieke Kaptein after 25 minutes could have led to a collapse and heavy loss. 

Celtic women can again be proud of their performance

Celtic though were again strong in their performance and kept to their principles on how their club wants to play football. Although Chelsea had the upper hand and were clearly much more experienced at this level, they didn't trouble Celtic too much in the second half. Chances were being created but not greatly troubling Kelsey Daugherty in the Celtic goal. 

As full time passed and injury time played out it looked like the game was heading for a narrow 2 goal win for Chelsea. A last-minute penalty through an unfortunate handball by Shannon MacGregor allowed Eve Perisset to make it three goals. A disappointing end for Elena Sadiku’s side. 

There are still two more matches to play in the contest, but the result leaves Celtic bottom of the group and no chance of progressing to a further stage. There probably wasn’t any expectation of qualifying for another round, but collecting the financial benefits and building their own experience levels would have been targets. Both can be marked as achieved so far. Wednesday's result reads harsher than the team deserves, they can still be proud of both games and will have learned from all their games so far.