Friday football focus is key for Elena Sadiku

Celtic F.C.

·13 de fevereiro de 2025

Friday football focus is key for Elena Sadiku

It could scarcely be any tighter at the top of the SWPL table as Celtic FC Women travel to Springburn tomorrow night (Friday) to take on Glasgow City at Petershill Park.

Both sides are locked on 50 points with 20 games played while City have a better goal difference, and there hasn’t been much between the teams this term in their three games so far.

Vídeos OneFootball

The Hoops came out on top with a 1-0 SWPL win back in August, then a 0-0 draw in the League Cup was settled by penalties with the Ghirls taking the spoils from the spot-kicks…

And the most recent game was less than a fortnight ago as the Celts lost 3-2 at Petershill in the Scottish Cup.

They return to the same venue as Friday night football takes pride of place in this weekend’s fixture card, and head coach, Elena Sadiku is looking forward to the occasion.

She said: “Like I’ve said before, Glasgow City are a great team, we have a huge respect for them.

“We know their threats and we also know how to exploit them, and I think we could have seen that in the game as well.

‘I think this is going to be a tough, even game, but I also do believe that we should be confident going into the game.’

“These are the games that we want to play and the games that we should be excited for.”

And looking for a reaction after the Scottish Cup battle at the start of the month, she said: “We always want to get back on and we always want to do better.

“But we need to be confident because it was a good game, and we had good first half like everybody saw.

“So, I’m really, really excited for tomorrow, I think it’s going to be a great game and I know that the players are ready to play the game as well.”

Indeed, this is the second Friday in a row that the Ghirls have taken to the pitch as last week they beat Dundee United 8-0 at Tannadice, and Sadiku said of Friday night football.

“I think it’s very enjoyable when it comes to playing in the games. I feel like it’s a long time since we played on a Sunday, now.

“I’m really excited for the occasion. We played against Dundee United in a great stadium and now we play a great opponent.

“So I think it’s more about who we play and where we play, and for me it’s just a normal game, so it may be a great night and hopefully we get a great result.”

The Swede’s players are fully concentrated on the 90 minutes ahead knowing that there are still further very crucial games to come

The head coach has told them to: “Focus on the role that you have, focus on the task and make that as good as possible, and then that’s the focus – winning the game. And everything else is not important unless we have the game in front of us.

“It comes down to not looking too much ahead, because we can’t control that part, what we can control is what did we learn against Glasgow City last time and how can we execute it better, and that is the focus.

“And obviously we want to win games, so we just need to set our mind into winning that game, and everything else is not important for now.”

She added: “We know how to defend, we’ve shown it in the Champions League, we’ve shown it domestically. We just need to focus on ourselves and obviously if I see changes I try to help the players.

“But I think my players are very smart and very adaptable, so I really believe that no matter what, we can adapt.”