Kelly Clark’s dad will watch his daughter lead Celtic into their first ever group game of the UEFA Women’s Champions League from his Lanzarote base – with the Hoops skipper expecting tears before a ball has been kicked.
The veteran defender will have family and friends present at New Douglas Park for Celtic’s game against FC Twente. And Clark, who joined Celtic in 2013 and feared that the clock was ticking on her Champions League dream, expects an emotional call at full-time. “I am genuinely surprised he has not paid for a flight home but they are going to a pub who are showing the game for them,” she said. “I can’t wait to go back to my phone afterwards and hear that he has embarrassed himself in front of the entire pub with his tears for 90 minutes.”
Hoops boss Elena Sadiku has urged her side to park any kind of emotion as she has called upon the old mantra of playing the game and not the occasion. “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.”
The 30-year-old Celtic manager will become the youngest manager to coach in the Champions League on Tuesday night. And the Swede has insisted that while the achievements of taking Celtic to such a prestigious stage has made her a story, she wants the story to be all about the team.
“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. I feel like I have to treat it as a normal game.
“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.”
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