Elena Sadiku urges Celtic to embrace Champions League pressure after narrow first-leg victory

Hoops boss Elena Sadiku has insisted that Celtic need to relax and embrace the pressure of the Champions League qualifier rather than be spooked by it.

A fifth minute Murphy Agnew goal gave Celtic a 1-0 lead to take into Thursday night’s second-leg play-off tie against Vorskla Poltava. It could and should have been a more comfortable cushion with Celtic scorning chances, particularly in a dominant second period. “I am confident that we created enough chances and we can do so again,” said Sadiku.

“We can’t see it as a concern, we need to see it as a great thing we did today of creating those chances. If we didn’t create those chances that would be a concern. The players need to execute it. We train on finishing. They should do it in the games as well. I don’t know if it is a confidence thing but I can’t do more than make sure that we create chances and that is what we did today.”

And the Swede has told her players to relax and enjoy the occasion rather than be intimidated by the close proximity to the last 16. “We have never been here before and I know that everybody wants to get to the group stage but for me it is about trying to enjoy the moment,” she said.

“We just go all in. We started really well and the second-half was better too because I thought we were more confident and more aggressive. It is the first-half.

“I think they wanted to see and feel how they react and who they are playing because in videos you can see one thing but it is different when you are actually in the moment. It is new so you need to learn from it. We need to take that learning into doing on the pitch and hopefully they can be more relaxed.

“I said to the girls after the game; look how good we were in creating chances. Take confidence from