Celtic have been handed “an enormous opportunity” to become the first Scottish side to reach the Women’s Champions League group stage, according to Scotland captain Rachel Corsie.
The first-time Scottish champions on Monday were drawn against Ukrainian counterparts Vorskla Poltava, 53 places above them in Uefa’s co-efficient table, in the play-off round.
But they avoided Benfica, Roma, Slavia Prague, St Polten and Valerenga, all of whom are ranked between 10 and 17 in Europe – well ahead of 29th-ranked Vorskla.
And their chances were further enhanced with the announcement that Celtic will host both legs, on 22 and 26 September, at the Albert Bartlett Stadium in Airdrie because their opponents are unable to play in their homeland due to the Russian invasion.
“I actually feel excited for it because very often Scottish teams get a tough draw,” Aston Villa centre-half Corsie told BBC Scotland’s Behind The Goals podcast.
“We’re used to that. We love to feel hard done-by. But this, legitimately, is arguably one of the very favourable teams that they could have got.”
Glasgow City have twice reached the quarter-finals, the latest in 2020, but no Scottish side has reached the 16-team group stage since it was established in the 2021-22 season.
Celtic were unseeded in the “champions path” section of Monday’s draw after winning their qualifying mini-tournament for the first time in three attempts.
Meanwhile, three top-20 clubs are guaranteed to miss out from the five “league path” ties.
Corsie pointed out that former Scotland midfielder Kim Little‘s Arsenal, who are ranked seventh and thumped Scottish Women’s Premier League runners-up Rangers 6-0 in qualifying last week, face a tough game against 12th-ranked Swedes Hacken, while fourth-ranked Paris Saint-German face Juventus in ninth.
Manchester City, who have Scotland goalkeeper Sandy MacIver in their squad, will be wary of Paris FC, despite the French side being ranked nine places below in 20th, given they knocked Arsenal out in qualifying last season.
“Three of those six clubs won’t progress,” Corsie said. “And then you have Celtic, who’ve got a huge opportunity.”
Corsie said you “can’t disrespect” the fact Vorskla are five-time champions of their domestic league but added: “I massively hope Celtic put in two huge performances and I think, if they do that, they will progress and that would honestly be fantastic for the Scottish game.”
If they do, they will be joining Sam Kerr‘s Bayern Munich and fellow Scotland midfielder Erin Cuthbert‘s Chelsea, who automatically qualified for the group stage as champions of their respective countries along with reigning champions Barcelona and last season’s runners-up, Lyon.
Meanwhile, Scotland midfielder Caroline Weir, who scored a double for Real Madrid last week on her return from a year out through injury, also has a great opportunity to be playing in the group stage.
Spain’s runners-up, who are ranked eighth in Europe, will be strong favourites to defeat 74th-ranked Sporting Lisbon, whose squad includes former Celtic forward Jacynta Galabadaarachchi.