UWCL: Celtic v Vorskla Poltava – Match Preview, Team News & Where to Watch | OneFootball

Celtic FC Women have the chance to make history as they take on Vorskla Poltava in Round 2 of the UEFA Women’s Champions League…

The Ukrainian champions will play in Scotland for both legs due to the ongoing war in Ukraine, with the two ties taking place at the Excelsior Stadium in Airdrie.

Our opponents currently sit second in the Ukrainian Women’s Premier League, having played four games. They sit three points behind the top spot with a game in hand, but haven’t lost a game this season.

Celtic are also unbeaten competitively this season, with our only dropped points coming against Hibs. In Round 1, we overcame KuPS and FC Gintra 3-1 and 2-0 respectively to secure our place in this second round. Now, one step away from a historic place in the group stages, Elena Sadiku and the Ghirls are determined to not fall at the final qualification hurdle.

Speaking to the media including The Celtic Star, before the game, Sadiku said: “It would mean a lot [to take Celtic to the group stages]. When it comes to what I’m trying to do for the girls, for the club, for the team, for the staff, it would mean the world.

“It’s not going to be easy. That team has been playing together for a long time. They know each other really well. They’ve been in this situation before as well. They are a very hard-working team that works for each other. They’re good at transitions. For me, it’s going to be a challenge and we just need to make sure we exploit what we need to exploit and we need to stop what they’re trying to do and what they’re good at.”

Team News

Chloe Logan, Chloe Craig and Luana Muñoz remain out of the ruling. All other players will be fit and ready for the clash. With Elena Sadiku planning to play her strongest possible starting eleven after carefully

Player’s View

Celtic captain Kelly Clark making her 300th appearance for Celtic

Captain Kelly Clark also spoke to the media before the match. She said: “It’s really nice [to play both of the games at home]. It means all of my family can come and watch for a start. Travelling to some of the places that we’ve played isn’t the easiest so to give the people that haven’t managed to travel in the past the chance to come and see me in person is nice from a personal point of view.

“I think with regards to the home advantage, Elena’s already touched on it, but having the fans there for both games, hopefully in numbers, is obviously huge for us. They always travel anyway and they’re usually loud, I think they sounded like a crowd of about 1,000 is what I got told from the games over in Lithuania that were streamed, so they do a great job but it would be great for us and for them to have more people joining in with their great chants.

Kelly Clark of Celtic holds off Eilidh Adams of Hibernian during the ScottishPower Womens Premier League 2024/25 Season. Celtic vs Hibernian. Albert Bartlett Stadium, Airdrie, 30/08/2024. Image: Colin Poultney/SWPL

“I think we just need to be a bit wary. Us playing at home twice is brilliant but I assume Vorskla will speak about how they can use that to motivate them as well. I know that if we were in that situation, we would be speaking about not letting it affect us and using it as motivation as well.

“They’re obviously going through a tough time at home, which is why both games are here, and I 100% if I was in that changing room would be speaking about everything that we can to put a smile on the face of some of the people who are back in Ukraine and going through what they’re going through.

“So, yes it’s an advantage, yes we should have a crowd that are right behind us, and we usually play well when that is the case, we get energy from that, but I know what we would be speaking about if we were on the other end of this and I know that they will also try to use it to their advantage, so we need to make sure we use it to our advantage a lot more.

“But it’s worth being wary that they’re not exactly going to sit and feel sorry for themselves that we’re at home both games, I absolutely do not expect them to walk out terrified of the atmosphere, they’ve probably been looking at what to expect and they’ll be aware. They won’t sit down just because they’re away from home, I don’t expect them to have any sympathy for themselves over it.”

Match Officials

Michaela Pachtova will take the whistle for this Champions League tie. Lucie Ratajová and Sanja Rodjak-Karšić assist her. Katka Hruskova has been named as the fourth official.

Kick-off Time

Celtic FC Women vs Vorskla Poltava kicks off at 12:00 at the Excelsior Stadium, Airdrie.

Where to Watch

If you can’t make it to the game, it will be available to watch on Premier Sports, which will be showing Celtic vs Falkirk directly after. If you are outside of the UK & Ireland, Celtic TV will be showing both games.

Score Prediction

I predict a 2-0 victory for Celtic, our editor reckons it will end in a 1-0 win for our Ghirls!

COYGIG

Jessica Elliott

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