It’s looking like there’s going to be a big crowd over at Airdrie’s Excelsior Stadium tomorrow night for the Friday Night Glasgow Derby between Celtic and theRangers under the lights in the crucial SWPL1 title showdown. Three points takes Celtic to the top of the league and will extend our lead over the current Scottish Champions to four points. It will also be their first defeat since the final day of the season before last – had they not lost that match against Glasgow City then Celtic would have won the league. Funny that!
The two teams fought out a goalless draw at their home ground over at Broadwood in Cumbernauld at the end of last year and theRangers are currently attracting around 1500 fans to their games, with a sizeable number coming to Airdrie tomorrow night. Celtic fans though will be there in numbers and you can still purchase your tickets and collect at the stadium, full details below.
Yesterday The Celtic Star was at Celtic Park and spoke to Celtic manager Fran Alonso and goalkeeper Pam Tajonar ahead of the Glasgow Derby showdown against theRangers. Here’s how we got on speaking to the Celtic boss…
The Celtic Star: Any update on the squad ahead of the game against theRangers on Friday night?
Fran Alonso: “We’ve got two players who have been out, I think possibly that they will be fit, I don’t know if they will start or will come from the bench and our internationals are not back yet, only Maria McAneny has returned. The others we are still waiting, so we will assess them tomorrow (Thursday) but hopefully everyone is going be be able to play at least part of the game, if needed. So I can’t complain. There’s no injury confirmed that will mean a player will miss the game, other that the ones we already know about.”
The Celtic Star: Jacynta had a moon boot on at the cup game against Bughoughmuir, is she likely to be out at the weekend?
Fran Alonso: “She’s been training. Obviously she is not 100% but at this stage of the season it’s very difficult for a player to be at 100%. It’s a lot of cumulative games, a lot of minutes and a lot of intensity in training as well so while she’s not 100% she’s fine to start if needed.”
The Celtic Star: You signed three players in the January transfer window and you said a few required some pre-season training to get back up to match-fitness. How is that going?
Fran Alonso: “In the case of two of them, Tash (Natasha) Flint and Hana Kerner, it’s going fantastically well, both are fully fit, so if we decide to start them both will be ready to start. Both of them have been training very well. In the case of Molli (Plasmann), she’s a player coming back from an ACL injury and she’s a long term signing. We are not really putting pressure on her to play this season. We want her to come here, learn our tactics, get used to the environment, the country, her teammates and to hopefully start afresh next season. She might take part at the end of this season but we don’t want to put her under any pressure. The other two are ready to go.”
The Celtic Star: A player who has been very impressive this season is Natalie Ross and she was out for a long time injured. She’s come back into the side this season and has made an increasingly important contribution to the way the team is playing, the results and she is getting some goals for you…
Fran Alonso: “I totally agree. Obviously there were some doubts due to the length of time she was out of the game but I know Natalie well and she’s a player that can play one touch easily. Whether she’s not fast because of the injury, well she wasn’t fast on the legs, she’s very fast on the brain and that’s something that I really value in a player and she is a leader within the changing room so we are delighted with her. And as you say, she is also scoring goals, the timing of her runs, arriving from the second line, she can shoot with both feet from outside the box, she’s even scored with a couple of headers so she’s an important player for us, in and out of possession.
“So I am delighted with her but to be fair I am delighted with the whole squad. I would say that 90% of the team are playing at the best that I have seen and that’s why in my opinion this is the best side that we have had and we are playing the best football. Hopefully we ill be able to put that into practice and impose our gains against (the)Rangers, which we failed to do the last time that we played them.”
The Celtic Star: In the last game (against theRangers) you did a different tactical style and almost got a winner right at the death if you remember,but this time are we going to on the front foot looking for the three points?
Fran Alonso: “Yes. We know that we are very good defensively. We know our roles very well, even in year one we played them three times in the league pretty much all the time we go into a medium block, or sometimes a low block and they only scored one goal in three games and they still lost that game.
“Last time they couldn’t score but we’re at home in front of our fans and we are going to go for it, we have to go for it. We wouldn’t like to sit deep and tell them to break us down. We should be brave, especially in front of our fans. I think we are now in better form than we were last time and I think we have a little more quality in the squad so we are going to go for it and let’s see what happens.
“We are confident that if we stick to the game-plan and execute as lose to perfection as we can then we can impose our game and if we manage to do that we will be able to get the three points. They haven’t lost (in the league) in a year and a half so it’s a huge challenge.”
The Celtic Star: Winning on Friday night takes you to the top of the league…
Fran Alonso: “Yeah, for me that’s irrelevant at this moment. What matters more is that if we win we are four points clear from (the)Rangers and we only have to play them twice after that (FYI: The SWPL1 will have a split for the first time this year with the top six playing each other home and away). They have more pressure than we do. If we don’t win, even if we lose there will only be two points difference between the teams but four points is more than open game so that would be an advantage that we want to have. We will try our best to get the three points.
The Celtic Star: Three times we’ve had thousands of Celtic supporters at games. The game at Parkhead when we played Hibs and the two cup finals. Each time the team was outstanding in their performances. How important is it for us to get thousands of Celtic fans at Airdrie on Friday night?
Fran Alonso: “I’ve been saying it for the whole season. It’s happened every single time with big crowds. We play for the fans, it’s what matters to us. Our community, our fanbase, that’s why we play. The little girls who come along to watch. The players are obsessed about them. They spent so much time with them after games and that’s what really matters to us.
“So every time there’s more people, more fans the better we perform. It has been like this in every singe game including the huge crowd at the Scottish Cup Final. Even with one less player (honest mistake), our fans were our eleventh player at the time. It’s fantastic how the players react to big crowds so hopefully we are going to have a big crowd (on Friday night). I don’t mind which colour of scarf they wear but hopefully we’ll have more green ones and we can put on a performance that they are proud of.”
The Celtic Star: Last one Fran, from when you arrived at Celtic to where we are now it’s been an incredible journey so far with the achievements. You’ve won the League Cup and you’ve won the Scottish Cup. How much would it mean to you to be a Champion in Scotland?
Fran Alonso: “It would mean the world to us, to the group. There are players we’ve all been together for three years, the memories inside the changing room have been incredible. Tears when we qualified for the Champions League for the first time. Tears when we won the Scottish Cup for the first time so we’ve got this unity, this chemistry and winning matters to us so it would be incredible.
“An incredible achievement considering who we are competing against but for us it would be special as we’d have achieved everything that you can achieve in a football club in a very short space of time and that came with a lot of hard work, losing some of our top players who have attracted some of the top teams in Europe and even without these players, replacing them with brand new players and still getting the best from them.
“So I think the whole elite performance environment will be fantastic if we can win the league. So we are fighting for it. There’s still a long way to go but at this moment in time we are better than we’ve ever been and hopefully it will carry on this weekend.”
FRIDAY NIGHT UNDER THE LGHTS AT AIRDRIE – ROAR CELTIC ONTO VICTORY OVER theRangers…
CELTIC FC Women take on theRangers on tomorrow night – Friday 24 February with a 7pm kick-off. The match is open to both Celtic and theRangers supporters with a large travelling support expected. Celtic supporters looking to purchase tickets can do so HERE or by clicking on the link below. Tickets are just £8 for adults, £4 for concessions and there’s an adult and child combination available for just £10. Why not use this as a great chance to get the weans along to their first ever Glasgow Derby, Friday night under the lights at the Excelsior Stadium in Airdrie.
Watch Fran Alonso’s media conference from Celtic Park yesterday afternoon below…
Tickets are available for home supporters to buy online now 🎟 ⬇️#CELRAN | #COYGIG🍀
— Celtic FC Women (@CelticFCWomen) February 17, 2023
🎙 “The more people, the more fans, the better we feel and the better the girls perform.”
Full media conference available now on YouTube ⤵️#CELRAN | #SWPL | #COYGIG
— Celtic FC Women (@CelticFCWomen) February 22, 2023
