First, a return to Celtic Park, and now, we’re back at Hampden Park! Celtic FC Women is back in action today as the Ghirls take on theRangers in a Glasgow Derby Women’s Scottish Cup semi-final at the National stadium. The Ghirls are looking to win the Women’s Scottish Cup for the third season in a row after beating Glasgow City 3-2 in the 2022 final at Tynecastle and theRangers 2-0 at Hampden last May.
Last weekend, Celtic beat Hearts 5-0 in front of a crowd of 3,600 at Paradise. Murphy Agnew got herself a hat trick, with Tash Flint and Lucy Ashworth-Clifford also getting in on the action. Although it wasn’t their day on Sunday, Hearts had done us a huge favour by beating theRangers the previous Wednesday, a result that saw us move top of the SWPL table.
And you may remember the last time we faced off against our rivals as it ended in a 2-1 victory to Celtic on St Patrick’s Day. Tash Flint had a brace by half-time and Jane Ross could only get her side a consolation. That result blew the title race wide open as it reduced the gap between us to one point in theRangers favour and at the moment Celtic are two points clear with five games to play in the league.
That Glasgow Derby result, as well as their recent form, will give the Celtic supporters heading to Hampden for the 12.15pm kick-off plenty of confidence that the Ghirls can earn their place in the 2024 Women’s Scottish Cup final.
As well as securing a place in the final, whoever wins this one will likely get a huge mental boost as we move into the final five league games.
Manager’s View
Elena Sadiku spoke at Hampden in a pre-match media conference on Thursday. She said: “We know that (the)Rangers are a great team but we are too, so it’s going to be a tight game, it’s going to be good and that’s what we’re looking forward to.
“The most important thing is the players and how they feel. It’s just a nice feeling seeing how the players are performing in every game. That’s something that I’m happy about and obviously for us as a staff and a club. But it just makes me happy to see them doing what they enjoy and playing well.
“We have been making sure that we’ve been coming into this Women’s Scottish Cup treating it as a different competition. Now we only have one more training then one game where we can go into the final and that’s the only thing that we are going to focus on.
“I believe in my players. I trust my players. And hopefully they feel that too. I’m very calm because I am so confident in the players, that they have the skills, they have the mindset, they have everything to make sure that we perform well as a team. So far it’s been good in terms of results so I am going to do the same thing on Saturday.”
You can read the conference in full here if you want to know everything that Elena had to say ahead of today’s semi-final.
Team News
You’ll be happy to know that in that media conference, Elena confirmed that Amy Gallacher has been training fully, meaning that she’ll likely be available for this game. Apart from that, the usual long-term injured are still out, with Paula Partido joining that list as confirmed by Elena to The Celtic Star after Sunday’s game.
Elena will select her team based on what she’s seen in training this week and she has a tough call to make on whether Murphy Agnew retains her place after that hat-trick against Hearts or whether Kit Loferski, with her pace that theRangers defences struggles against, gets the nod. I suspect the latter will be the way the gaffer goes.
And Lucy Ashworth-Clifford will be going into the game at Hampden against theRangers on a high after yesterday signing a new contract extension at the club.
Captain’s View
Captain Kelly Clark spoke to the media, including The Celtic Star, at Hampden as well.
She said: “The biggest difference [when playing Rangers]is externally probably. Internally it’s the exact same. We prepare the exact same, nothing changes in training. It’s a massive fixture in world football in the men’s side and you see the fan interest in it in the women’s side as well. It’s cared about a bit more in general, but other than the fact than that it’s two really good teams and it’s always really competitive.
“We’ve got to try to be calm and ignore the noise on the outside. We are very focused and together as a group just now. So we’ll look to each other to make sure that we are in the right mindset for it and that we can deal with the external noise.
“You play football to win games and if you win every game you win trophies, so it is everything. It means we have played well throughout the entire cup run and it can come back to the Celtic Park boardroom for another year. But we’ll take one game at a time.
“I genuinely think that whatever way it goes, it doesn’t really matter. You could say if we win that we’ll be going into the games in the league saying ‘we’ve got this’ and if you lose the chat is ‘bounce right back’ and ‘make sure it doesn’t happen again’. I could say ‘it will do us the world of good’, if we win and I could say the same if we lose, because all it would do is give us more energy for the last five games of the season.
“You want to win every game when you play for Celtic. The expectation is that you’ll win every game and if you win games the outcome is that you can have silverware at the end of the season, so I just think that we have to be 100% focused on the job in hand when it comes.”
Wise words from the captain, and you can read everything she said here.
Match Officials
Gary Hanvidge takes the whistle tomorrow, with Liam Duncan and Paulina Ruszniak assisting him. Steven MacDonald has been named as the Fourth Official.
Kick-off Time
Celtic FC Women vs Rangers kicks off at 12:15 at Hampden Park.
Ticket Details
GET YOUR TICKETS AND GET ALONG TO SUPPORT THE GHIRLS IN THE GLASGOW DERBY AT HAMPDEN…
CELTIC FC WOMEN v theRANGERS – WOMEN’S SCOTTISH CUP SEMI-FINAL, Hampden Park today, Saturday 27 April. Kick-off 12.15pm – Tickets are priced at £10 for adults and just £5 for concessions and you can order directly from the Scottish FA here. You can use the App and get the tickets send directly to your phone.
Supporters will be accommodated inside the main stand area with the Celtic support at the traditional Celtic End of the South Stand as you would expect.
Last Time at Hampden
Where to Watch
Get down to Hampden to support the Ghirls if you can, but if not, the match will be broadcast live on BBC One Scotland. Coverage begins 15 minutes before kick-off.
Score Prediction
Celtic FC Women 3 – 0 theRangers. I am aware that I may look insane to some, but I’m confident going into this one. That might be the first time I’ve said that going into a Glasgow Derby this season, but I think we’re going to put in a shift tomorrow. With both team’s current form, and our cup form, everyone at Celtic is going to be determined to dispatch of theRangers and put on a show at the national stadium. Incidentally our Editor reckons that it will be a 2-1 win for the Ghirls – that would do nicely but I’d much prefer my scoreline prediction to be correct!
See you at Hampden!
COYGIG!
Looking Forward To The Game Today.It’s A Lovely Morning In Glasgow.If Elena’s Ghirls Are On It We Should Be Back For Another Cup Final In May. COYGIG