Against those two teams, who met last night at Stamford Bridge, you would once more expect Celtic to be in the unfamiliar position as the underdog, the team on the back foot.

Though that eventually transpired in Hamilton, the SWPL champions came flying out of the blocks, relishing the challenge in front of them.

But once the excitement of their new surroundings wore off, reality soon hit.

Twente – competing in the competition for the 10th time – were streetwise. They know what this competition demands. They rode out the early wave of Celtic’s energy then pounced and pinned them into their own defensive third. They toyed with the hosts at times.

“We are where we are but we need to get fitter, we need to control the ball when we have it, we need to be brave and play out from the pressure like we did in the first 15 minutes,” Sadiku added.

“The movement, the pace with and without the ball. When we defend that much, we need to be fitter so that when we have the ball, we can relax.

“We concede the first goal late in the half, does that have something to do with fatigue? The second goal, we concede late in the game, so could that have something to do with it?”

“We’ll learn from this and take confidence, because they should be confident.”

That confidence comes from a second-half rally. As they did in the first, Celtic came out quick and alert from the restart and created chances they should have made count.

But ultimately they didn’t, and Kayleigh van Dooren’s late goal ensured a Twente victory. A stage this grand is unforgiving, as Celtic discovered.

It is all a learning curve, though. This is unchartered territory for a side few – if any – thought would be dining at this table when Sadiku came in just 10 months ago. A point she is keen to reiterate.

“There are errors we need to fix,” the head coach added.

“I don’t know how much people are expecting from us to be in the top 16, what we’re doing right now is we’re going to fight. We’ll try to do everything to get as many points as possible.

“In January or in the summer, I don’t think anyone expected us to be where we are right now.

“It’s been a great experience, we’ll learn and I think we can really put in a better performance for our next game.”

When interim boss Lee Carsley oversaw the wins against the Republic of Ireland and Finland, he did so without arguably some of his most important players.

As well as Palmer, Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham were also absent.

While Palmer has made a blistering start to the season, Foden and Bellingham are yet to really get going.

Manchester City forward Foden scored 27 goals in all competitions last season and won the PFA Player of the Year award, but he has started just two Premier League games so far for Pep Guardiola’s side this time around.

Meanwhile, Bellingham began this season with a leg injury and has just one assist and no goals in the five La Liga games he has played for Real Madrid so far.

Then, of course, there is Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka. He featured in all of England’s games at Euro 2024, scoring one goal and providing one assist.

He has once again been a key player for the Gunners so far this season and was brilliant in the Champions League win against Paris St-Germain last week, and again in the weekend win against Southampton.

To make life even more difficult for Carsley, Newcastle’s Anthony Gordon has also been impressing and is another strong option to start for the Three Lions.

Carsley has suggested it is important to find a way to get all his best players in, and he selected Palmer as a central midfielder at England Under-21 level.

“Carsley has got to find a way of getting him into the team, but it doesn’t have to be as the number 10 ahead of Foden or Bellingham because he can play off the right as well,” former Premier League striker Chris Sutton said.

“With the talent Palmer has, and his goals and his numbers, this season his form has been better than Bukayo Saka’s, and in fact it has been better than anyone’s.

“I have always believed that if someone’s form is good, get them in. So, whether it is the right or in the middle, Carsley has to fit him in. He must start for England against Greece.”

Monday Night Club’s Chris Sutton talks about Liverpool’s impressive start to the season and whether the squad has enough depth to make the Reds “serious” Premier League title contenders.

WATCH the full episode of Monday Night Club here

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Phillips represented nine clubs during his 20-year playing career, including Watford, Sunderland, Southampton, West Brom, Aston Villa and Birmingham.

He scored a total of 287 goals, won eight caps for England and in 2000 became the first English player to win Europe’s Golden Shoe award. Bayern Munich’s Harry Kane became the second English winner last season.

Since retiring in 2014, he has held coaching roles with Leicester City, Derby County and Stoke City before a 15-month stint at South Shields, who he led to promotion into the National League North in his second season in charge in 2022-23.

Phillips had expected to remain at Hartlepool this season but claimed the club had withdrawn a contract offer in order to appoint former Woking boss Darren Sarll instead.

Phillips will be assisted by Wess Brown, who he worked with at South Shields.

Ben Tollitt scored twice as Morecambe won a six-goal thriller against Nottingham Forest Under-21s to qualify for the EFL Trophy knockout stages.

The Shrimps, who are rooted to the bottom of League Two without a win, were among five teams to confirm their progression from the group stage after they ran out 4-2 winners against Forest at the Mazuma Mobile Stadium.

Fin Back put the visitors in front midway through the first half before Tollitt levelled three minutes ahead of the break.

Morecambe’s Paul Lewis turned into his own net shortly after half-time but Charlie Brown and Hallam Hope struck twice in 11 minutes to complete the turnaround. Tollitt then scored his second and the hosts’ fourth late on to seal victory.

League Two AFC Wimbledon scored a dramatic 96th-minute winner away at League One Crawley Town to win 4-3 and go through from Southern Group B.

The Wombles were leading 3-0 with 20 minutes remaining but were remarkably pegged back before Joe Pigott struck with almost the last kick of the game.

A Jordan Hugill double and a goal from Esapa Osong saw Rotherham United beat Newcastle United Under-21s 3-1 to make it out of Northern Group H with two wins.

Wrexham cruised through with a comfortable 3-0 win over Wolves Under-21s thanks to goals from Lewis Brunt, Paul Mullin and Modou Faal.

Victory for the Red Dragons means Port Vale also qualify from the same group without kicking a ball on Tuesday night.

Crewe Alexandra will also be in the hat for the last 32 of the competition after Calum Agius netted in the 30th minute as they beat fellow League Two side Harrogate Town 1-0.