Other than a Henrik Larsson poster, Elena Sadiku had no connection to Glasgow, to Celtic or to Scottish football before landing at Celtic Park almost two years ago.
She has not taken long to get herself up to speed.
“We know what the Glasgow derby means,” she said, with her description of tomorrow night’s game at Ibrox immediately hitting the right note with the Parkhead support.
The issue for Sadiku, though, is that her team needs to do its talking on the pitch.
It was March 2024, a sequence of eight games across all competitions, when Celtic last beat Rangers with an inability to beat their rivals badly damaging their title aspirations last term.
Rangers, Glasgow City and Hibs have all been difficult for Celtic to negotiate a way past with Sadiku well aware that the longer the run stretches without a win over their title rivals, the more oppressive it becomes.
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“I have been dealing with pressure all my life,” said the Swede. “I have played in the Champions League, coached in the Champions League, win titles, won trophies. It is where you want to be.
“The way I deal with pressure is to give everything I have every single day.
“The belief in this game is stronger than tactics. We know what it means and playing Rangers is the most exciting part of being in this league.
“We need to show desire, passion, how much we want it.”
Despite struggling to beat Rangers across the last 20 months, Sadiku believes that the Ibrox side are the team under pressure tonight. Celtic could pull six points clear with a win, a fact that wasn’t lose on her.
“The bigger pressure is on Rangers because they are behind us,” she said. “I’m not hiding from the fact it has been so long since we won against Rangers but the games have been close. I want us to be on the other side of it this time.”
