Elena Sadiku will lead Celtic into the UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage for the first time in their history.
And the Swede has insisted that despite the prestigious nature of the tournament, it is vital her players remember that they are not there simply as a supporting cast.
“I think it is big thing for me that as a team we worked really hard to get here so the biggest thing for me is that the players need to enjoy it,” she said. “They should remember that there is a reason why we are here and it is because we are a good football team and that confidence has to show.
“It doesn’t matter if we are playing Twente or Real Madrid or Chelsea – they will all have good players. But so do we.” Sadiku has attracted a bit of attention in the aftermath of a successful progression through the qualifiers and into the last 16 of the competition. Celtic are the first Scottish women’s team to make it into the group stages since the tournament was radically reformatted in 2021 with the 30-year-old Swede set to become the youngest coach to manage in the Champions League.
If that has brought a little focus, she is keen to deflect it.
“It is a lot of talk about me right now and I think it is sometimes a bit too much because it is the players who are doing the job,” she said.
“I am the face because I am the head coach but for me the important thing is what they think about me and what we do together. What we have done together so far has been amazing. “The excitement was high when we got to the stage of knowing we were going to play in the Champions League but now it is about focussing on the game and what we need to do to win. Twente are a good side. It will be a tense game. It will be tough. But I am excited.
“This achievement is something we've never done before. And I think with all the games coming up and how busy our schedule is, it's never been like that before and that's something we need to learn from. And it's good that we experienced this. The goal is always, when we enter a game, is how to win it. And that's always going to be the game plan. We're not going to be happy with going in to be okay that we lose. Like, it's never going to be like that.”
