ERIN CUTHBERT made sure to wear a dash of royal blue in her nail polish while Chelsea were in their change strips of black.
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In the days leading up to the game, Cuthbert had admitted that a goal at this venue would mean a lot for her – although adding “more as a Chelsea player than being a Rangers fan”.
She was deployed in a fairly deep-lying central midfield role in a Chelsea team with many changes.
But it still wasn’t for the lack of trying as Cuthbert three times went close in the first half before she didn’t reappear for the second.
Big hitters Chelsea – ranked among the favourites for this competition – have a huge WSL meeting with Manchester City at the weekend, while Celtic have the small matter of an Old Firm clash with Rangers.
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But the Hoops came out of the match with credit, even having the temerity to take the lead as they bagged a historic first Champions League group stage goal through Murphy Agnew.
She kept her cool admirably after being played clean through on goal to bring an 8,000 crowd to its feet.
But two goals in four minutes from Maika Hamano and Ashley Lawrence put the visitors back on top just after the half hour mark.
And while they threatened to make the scoreline safer, they saw Aggie Beever-Jones sent off for a second bookable offence in the 90th minute – and it was Celtic who finished the match in the ascendancy.
In some ways Sadiku was by far the happier manager afterwards, saying: “I am gutted. We are the team closest to scoring a goal in the last minutes rather than Chelsea.
“I am proud. What a performance what an effort, they followed through the game plan.”
Chelsea star Wieke Kaptein said: “I think it was a tougher game than we expected.
“Celtic played a good game and, because we didn’t get the third goal, they always had the feeling they could score.
“But this is the best competition in the world and it was a pleasure to play on this field with this team.”Â
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