ALTHOUGH the iconic Champions League tune has become a familiar sound for supporters of Glasgow City, it will greet the players of Hibernian Ladies for the first time when they take the pitch for tonight’s last 32 tie against Bayern Munich, writes Alan Campbell.
Technically there has never been a Champions League game, female or male, at Easter Road – but in the 1955-56 season Hibs played three games at the ground in the inaugural European Cup. That tonight’s occasion is a Women’s Champions League game could never have been predicted 60 years ago, when the sport was banned from men’s grounds by the Scottish FA.
Without doubt Hibs have their work cut out against a fully professional Bayern squad containing five recent German Olympic Games gold medallists and internationalists from nine other countries, including Scotland’s Lisa Evans.
Hibs, too, have a sprinkling of Scottish internationalists but they are essentially an amateur side, albeit one that trains eight times a week and has a fully professional attitude. The typical player is young, pacey and skilled, but they have little experience of playing a side as good as Bayern.
Nor has anyone in the squad, including older hands Joelle Murray, Lisa Robertson and Rachael Small, ever played a game in the last 32 of the Champions League – for the simple reason that Hibs have never qualified for the knockout stages of either this competition or its predecessor the Uefa Women’s Cup.
Small, who has 28 caps despite being only 24 and not having played for Scotland for nearly three years, could be a valuable player for Hibs. She joined the club in July after moving south from Aberdeen following her engagement to Martin Boyle, who plays for the men’s side.
Although now primarily a midfielder, she started her career as a defender and will also bring leadership qualities to the side as the former captain of Aberdeen.
“I can’t wait for it, I’m so excited,” she said. “Almost every player you look at in the Bayern squad has a ‘wow’ factor.
“In midfield they have Melanie Behringer who was a huge player for Germany until she retired from international football after winning gold at the Olympics in Rio. She’s going to pull the strings.”
Small and her team-mates normally play their home games on an artificial surface at Albyn Park, but were able to test out the grass at Easter Road in a recent league game against Stirling University.
“It’s a huge pitch, whereas Albyn Park is quite narrow,” she said.
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