‘They have nothing to lose’ – Chelsea boss Bompastor expects Celtic to give their all | OneFootball

Chelsea head coach Sonia Bompastor says that she expects her side to face a Celtic team that will give everything at Celtic Park this evening.

The Blues travel north of the border for their third UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage fixture.

Chelsea are top of their group while Celtic are bottom having lost both of their matches so far. The game could be seen as a derby in European footballing terms and Bompastor believes that opponents Celtic will be determined to make up for their previous losses.

“I feel like we have played in a lot of derbies since I came to Chelsea and they’re nice games to play,” Bompastor said when speaking in the pre-match press conference.

“We expect Celtic to play a very tough game because they have nothing to lose. They will be very motivated to play against Chelsea, one of the best clubs in Europe, and I think we just need to respect them for that and be ready from the start of the game.

“We are focusing on ourselves. We have a lot of quality, but of course, we expect them to come and be really motivated and try to make it hard for us.”

The quality of women’s football is gradually improving north of the border and Bompastor recognises the fact that Celtic have plenty of talent in their team.

She said “We have watched some of their games in the league and also in the Champions League. Celtic are maybe a team that don’t have our experience in Europe but they have quality, good players and we respect them a lot. It’s a Champions League game, they’ve made the group stage, so we need to respect them.”

Chelsea have a huge fixture against Barclays Women’s Super League title rivals Manchester City coming up on Saturday evening but Bompastor says that her side’s complete focus is on Celtic.

She said “The players and the staff are really focusing on this game. We take things game-by-game and the next one is Celtic, so we focus on that.

“The Champions League is important for us, we have a lot of ambition in that competition. We really want to finish in first place in the group.”

Chelsea’s UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage fixture against Celtic kicks-off at 8pm this evening.