Celtic captain Kelly Clark says her side “can hurt anyone” as they look to make the Champions League group stage at Vorskla Poltava’s expense.
The SWPL champions, having seen off KuPS of Finland and Lithuanians Gintra in the opening round, face Ukrainians Vorskla over two legs on Sunday and Thursday at the Albert Bartlett Stadium in Airdrie.
Natalya Zinchenko’s side are 29th in Uefa’s coefficient table, 53 places above Celtic.
But it was one of the kindest draws Elena Sadiku’s team could have had, avoiding five teams ranked between 10 and 17 in Europe.
“The Champions League is not an easy tournament to play in,” defender Clark said.
“We’ve learned that the hard way the last few years when we’ve been in it.
“No matter what anybody thinks of the draw, I know for a fact that they [Vorskla] will surprise people on Sunday.
“I do not expect it to be a walk in the park. They might give us the ball but it doesn’t make it easy.
“Valerenga gave us the ball last year and look how that turned out.”
Celtic lost on penalties to Norwegian outfit Valerenga in the first round of the competition last year.
Having taken the game to extra time, the Glasgow side thought Jenny Smith’s late goal would send them through but Valerenga netted an equaliser three minutes into injury time.
Clark is hopeful they’ll have better fortune this time around.
“When we celebrate each other’s mini wins we feel really good about ourselves and each other,” she added.
“I think we can hurt anybody.”
