Fran Alonso has named his Celtic FC Women side to take on theRangers at Hampden in the Sun this afternoon as the Ghirls look to retain the Scottish Cup won so thrillingly last year at Tynecastle.
Today will smash the Scottish Cup final attendance record and could possibly threaten the new record of just under 16k set at Celtic Park last weekend, beating the previous record which was set a week or so earlier also at Paradise.
Pam Tajornar is the goalkeeper and the Mexican international has been outstanding for the Hoops all season.
The back three are Kelly Clark, the long serving Celtic Captain, Scotland and Celtic Player of the Year Caitlin Hayes and Ireland international Claire O’Riordan. That’s a solid trio defensively and also more than capable of providing a viable goal threat for Fran Alonso, especially at set-pieces.
Experienced campaigns Chloe Craig will be on the right hand side as a wing-back with talent Chinese winger Menglu doing the same job on the left hand side. The central midfielders will be our other Chinese star Shen and she will be joined by Academy graduate Maria McAneny who is powerful, fully committed to the Celtic cause and a clever performer. Earlier this week Maria signed her first professional contract with the club.
The two number 10s will be Jacynta and Amy Gallacher with goal machine Tash Flint going back to centre-forward after playing a little deeper in recent games to allow Kit Loferski to lead the line. The super-quick American drops to the bench today alongside Logan, Otto, Fergusson andBowie, alongside Academy players Cusack, Goldie, Barclay and Sharkey.
Kick-off is at 1.30pm. VAR is in operation today so expect the unexpected. The game is live on BBC 1 Scotland.
COYGIG
📋 Your starting eleven for the first ever Women’s Scottish Cup Final at Hampden Park 🍀#CELRAN | #ScottishCup | #COYGIG pic.twitter.com/DLYzVNV4el
— Celtic FC Women (@CelticFCWomen) May 28, 2023
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— Celtic TV (@CelticTV) May 28, 2023
