Celtic and Rangers ready for Women’s Scottish Cup semi-final

Glasgow rivalry rears its head in a cup competition once again as Celtic and Rangers meet at Hampden for a place in the Women’s Scottish Cup final.

Rangers have already lifted one trophy this season after seeing off Celtic in the last four of the SWPL Cup.

If this semi-final matches that one for excitement, then BBC One Scotland viewers are in for a treat on Saturday.

It was Elena Sadiku’s first game in charge of Celtic and her side found a 90th-minute equaliser to make it 2-2. But it wasn’t to be for the Swede as Rio Hardy converted from the penalty spot in the 95th minute to seal the win for Rangers.

“The one thing you can say is these contests have always been close,” said Rangers manager Jo Potter.

“They’ve always been exciting games. If you look at our previous semi-final, it was one of the best games played this season. It was a brilliant game to watch.”

Celtic are seeking a third successive Scottish Cup, having seen off Rangers with a 2-0 victory in last year’s final.

That was under previous manager Fran Alonso and now Sadiku is hoping to create some magic cup moments of her own.

“I think we have a good code in the team about the moments we shared together,” she said.

“That’s something that we want to make sure that we try to do our very best, to be as successful as possible.

“So you come to training every day to try to do your best, so we can get the best ending as well.”

This will be the fifth Old Firm meeting of the campaign, with one more to come in the SWPL, which Celtic currently lead by two points.

Rangers came from a goal down to win 2-1 in the first of this season’s league derbies back in October. Celtic won the most recent encounter by the same score, while there was a 1-1 in between.

Celtic have the benefit of better form and are unbeaten in their last nine games, with Rangers suffering two defeats in the same timeframe.

Saturday is the chance for one of these giants to lay down a marker in the title race and whoever prevails will be overwhelming favourites in the final against either Hearts or Spartans.