Celtic’s 4-0 defeat against Real Madrid last night flattered the Spaniards according to manager Elena Sadiku. Despite the loss, she maintained that the performance was to be applauded from Celtic and the manner in which they competed until the latter stages of the game.
Caroline Weir set an immediate tone with a sumptuous 7th minute opener, a goal that came via her left-foot as she spied the gap from 25 yards and flashed a rocket of a shot into the top corner. Norwegian striker Signe Bruun doubled Madrid’s lead deep into the second period before Caroline Moller added a third. Linda Caicedo netted the fourth from the spot.
It means Celtic have lost their opening two games in the group while they have also lost their last three successive games – and have not won in their last four.
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“I think coming into this game we have highlighted we need to show the braveness we know we have in possession and being confident and I think you saw that,” said Sadiku. “I was proud of how we defended in the first-half. We frustrated them. We created chances second half and they could have changed the game. We need to execute them.
“How we attacked and how calm we were, that shows that I want from this team. No-one thought we would be here. It should not have been 4-0, 2-0 would be more acceptable. The third goal is a mistake and we can fix that. The fourth goal is an easy penalty. That doesn’t happen in Scotland. I am proud, we kept going and until the 70th minute we competed with Real Madrid.”
Madrid had started on the frontfoot with Celtic penned back as their hosts came at them in wave after wave of attack. When Weir offered a reminder of just what Scotland have missed after her recuperation from an ACL, there was always the sense that it could be a long night for Celtic.
For all that Madrid’s superiority showed, Celtic were architects of their own downfall at times too; one passing out move from the back almost resulted in a second with Kelly Clark having to intervene to concede a corner.
Amy Gallacher deflected an effort off of her own post as the opening period drew to a close.
On the rare occasions when Celtic did manage to get themselves up the pitch, they struggled to make any kind of impact. Emma Lawton found herself in a decent position but her pass was poor with Madrid easily intervening.
The former Partick Thistle winger almost atoned in the second period when she clipped the side-netting before then supplying Murphy Agnew a few minutes later. The American snatched at the chance and lifted her effort over the bar.
“We need to be better,” said Sadiku. “We had three chances, it is something we need to work on and be better at. But the amount of games we are playing and quality we are facing, we can only learn from it.
“I feel very proud of the girls. They were confident, brave and played football as I know they can. These are things that we can look at and we can learn from but already I think you can see that we have learned from the Twente game.”
As Celtic tried to continued to try to contain Madrid, the hosts always carried menace. They doubled their lead midway through the second period after pulling Celtic apart with their passing.
With the ball eventually ushered out to Eva Navarro on the right-hand side, she took her time before floating a perfect cross into the box for Norwegian striker Bruun to head past Daugherty.
From there, Madrid simply turned the screw with a quickfire third and fourth. Bruna gifted Madrid possession on the back of a tired pass with Moller simply lifting it into the back of the net.
The fourth came via the spot after Celtic substitute Shannon McGregor was judged to have fouled Caicedo with the striker duly converting, despite Daugherty almost getting a hand to the effort. Celtic will feel that there were moments when they competed within the game but 4-0 ought to serve as a reminder of just how ruthless the Champions League environment is.
