Key events
10 min: Smith is okay to continue and so we resume with the corner. Hamano takes it short and Baltimore sends it in but it’s easily cleared.
9 min: Chelsea have another corner with McGregor putting it out of play but before the set piece is taken Smith needs some treatment, it looks to be a calf issue.
8 min: Kaptein wins the ball back in a good place and she fires a shot but Daugherty saves easily.
7 min: A lot of play in their own half from Celtic. they are finding it tricky to get out of their own half at the moment. Possession exchanging hands quite frequently also as both settle into this one.
5 min: The atmosphere in the Celtic Park is incredible. There must be at least 15,000in this evening.
4 min: Baltimore has a lovely ball inside and a few passes later it comes to Cuthbert but Lawton heads out for a corner. Hamano takes it short and Baltimore sees it in but Bjorn heads over the bar.
2 min: Chelsea have had all the possession so far but Celtic’s defence is aggressive with high press at the moment.
Kick-off! Celtic 0-0 Chelsea
Here we go then. Some huddles delaying kick-off slightly but we are underway now.
There looks to be a good crowd at Celtic Park with a light show to boot before kick-off.
The players will be out on the pitch shortly. Can Chelsea keep their unbeaten run going? Or will Celtic cause an upset? All to come.
The two earlier kick-offs today have finished up and it has seen Real Madrid beat FC Twente, the two teams in Chelsea and Celtic’s group, 7-0 including two goals from Maria Mendez. While Wolfsburg have beaten Galatasaray 5-0 which saw Rebecka Blomqvist score a hat-trick.
The I’m a Celeb line-up has been announced for this year’s competition and it got me thinking about who would be a good fit from women’s football. Of course Jill Scott won in 2022 but I’d love to know who else you think would do a good job. I think Erin Cuthbert would be a good shout. Email me to get in touch and let me know.
Here are how the other two British clubs in the competition got on yesterday:
Celtic boss Elena Sadiku said: “This experience has taught us that this is just a normal game. The occasion is huge, but we still need to do what we can do which is playing football the way we play. We knew it would be tough, but we are going to learn, we are going to grow and we are going to get stronger as a team from playing here.”
Chelsea manager Sonia Bompastor has said of tonight’s opposition: “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 team news is in. Celtic have named a strong side with a fully loaded bench including the Carstens sisters.
Celtic: Daugherty, Barclais, N Ross, Gallacher, Smith, Agnew, McGregor, Clark, Ashford-Clifford, Lawton, Bruna Costa.
Subs: Logan, Rodgers, Richardson, S Carstens, M Carstens, Cavanagh, Cross, Hayes, Noonan, Munoz, McAney
Chelsea, meanwhile, opt for some squad rotations with Zecira Musovic in goal and ERin Cuthbert is captain with Millie Bright not in the squad.
Chelsea: Musovic, Perisset, Bjorn,Mpome, Lawrence, Cuthbert, Kaptein. Jean-Francios, Baltimore, Hamano, Beever-Jones.
Subs: Hampton, Cox, Bronze, Bartel, Reiten, Kaneryd, Macario
Preamble
Hello and welcome back to our coverage of the Women’s Champions League where tonight we will be focusing on Celtic v Chelsea.
Chelsea travel to Scotland as an unbeaten side across all competitions so far this season. They have won every single match they have played under new manager Sonia Bompastor and it will be difficult for Celtic to be the ones to halt their winning run.
Celtic, who are currently fourth in the Scottish Premiership, have not won a game in the WCL yet and sit at the bottom of the group table with no points. A win over Chelsea, though unlikely, would resuscitate their campaign.
We will take a look at what has been said in the build-up to the game shortly but first let’s take a peek at the team news before kick-off at 8pm GMT.
