Celtic boss Elena Sadiku 'loves the fire and passion' of Old Firm derby

Celtic Women manager Elena Sadiku says she loves the passion, rivalry and unique atmosphere of the Old Firm derby as she prepares her team to take on Rangers this weekend.

The SWPL champions host their city rivals at New Douglas Park in Hamilton at lunchtime on Sunday with only two points separating the top four.

Sadiku’s side are fresh off their midweek Champions League clash with Chelsea when they put in a respectable performance and took the lead against the undefeated English Super League team before falling to a 2-1 defeat.

Last month Celtic drew 2-2 with Rangers at Broadwood after fighting back from 2-0 down to earn a point.

They will go ahead of their city rivals in the league if they can take all three points this weekend but Sadiku insists they will need to perform at their best for the full 90 minutes for that to happen.

She said: “I think the way we started against Rangers in the last game, we had a lot of the ball but didn’t create many chances which caused a bit of frustration.

“After half-time the players started to think “we can do this” and I think that belief needs to be there from the start, because we hadn’t played Rangers before that, so for me, it’s more about being confident and brave from the start and showing how much we want to win the game.

“You can’t wait until half-time, because I think you seen a different energy and desire in the second half than we had in the first, so that is something I think will be important in this game.

“I love the rivalry, there is a different atmosphere around this game, obviously there are two teams doing whatever they can to win.

“I’m not going to say anything bad about Rangers, I think they are a great team and so are we.

“There is a lot of passion in these games and that is something that makes it more exciting and more fun for me.

“When I am more passionate on the sidelines it’s because I want the players to be more fired up, but maybe I need to be a little bit more calm because I have had a few yellow cards already.”