It has been a hectic first six months for Bruna Lourenco in green and white, after joining the club in the most recent summer transfer window.

Arriving from Sporting CP in her homeland of Portugal, the defender has already achieved history as a Celtic player and could almost say it has felt like more than half a year she has spent in Glasgow.

The opening half of the campaign offered up an incredibly busy schedule for the entire squad, with many big games on the domestic and European stage.

The last few weeks have allowed Bruna and her team-mates some rest, with the winter break arriving at the end of December.

However, it was back to work for the Portuguese defender and the squad, with a trip to Gran Canaria this past week as the Ghirls got back down to work on the training pitch.

Speaking to the media during the visit to Spain, Bruna talked up the importance of the trip, stating that it has been good for the entire group, on and off the pitch.

She said: “I think the trip away to Gran Canaria has been really important. It’s allowed us some time to actually work on the pitch and ourselves as a team.

“With the Champions League schedule, it was something that we didn’t have a lot of time to work on.

‘So it’s been really nice, also to be together again after the winter break. We’ve had a bit more time.’

“We keep getting to know each other as a team, and so I think that will really help us in the future and be important going forward really.”

Having arrived in Glasgow in the summer of 2024, it will have been a bit of a whirlwind time for the centre-back.

Facing game after game, the defender would have almost had to use football to settle in to life in Scotland, with an extremely busy schedule thanks to the Ghirls’ involvement in the UEFA Women’s Champions League.

That being said, Bruna believes that will have been a valuable experience as she eyes up more consistency heading into the second half of the campaign,

“It’s definitely been a bit of a crazy schedule since I came in the summer,” she said. “But somehow, it’s been really good for us.

'We’ve been working hard as a team, and it was really important to have that experience.'

“It’s been a tough schedule, but I think it helped us a lot and we have grown a lot during that time. So I think we just want to start picking up that consistency as a team, and then we are going to achieve really good things.”

This weekend marks a return to competitive action for the squad as they take on Partick Thistle at New Douglas Park on Sunday (KO: 4:10pm).

Bruna insists that the group are looking forward to getting back out there as they aim to start the year off strong.

She said: “It’s always good to get the competitive games back. We are getting into an important stage of the season. So, we are all really looking forward to that. We want to start the year off strong."

Bruna: We want to start the year off strong against Partick Thistle