Glasgow City 0 SK Brann 4: Norwegian champions too strong as City dealt harsh Champions League lesson

Glasgow City saw their hopes of reaching the UEFA Women’s Champions League group stage all-but extinguished after they were blown away by clinical Norwegian champions SK Brann at Petershill Park.

The visitors blitzed their hosts with a ruthless display and raced into an early two-goal lead in Springburn during the first-leg of the knockout round tie when Rakel Engesvik and Justine Kielland fired beyond goalkeeper Lee Gibson to put City firmly on the back foot.

Towering striker Engesvik then made it three shortly before half-time to leave the home side with a mountain to climb and despite an improved second half display, winger Marit Lund put the game beyond doubt with four minutes remaining.

Two-time quarter-finalists City must now stage a miraculous second-leg revival in Norway next Wednesday, with deflated head coach Leanne Ross acknowledging she got her tactics wrong on the night.

She told GlasgowWorld: “I’ve had a few tough nights already in this post but this is a difficult one to take. You just can’t start games like that and expect to get anything out of them. It was really disappointing, we gave ourselves a real tough task.

“The intensity and our bravery on the ball improved in the second half but you can’t go behind in games like that and let people run into your box. The team has to respond. We now need more of the second half performance over the course of the whole game next week. There was no surprise for us in how they played but we have given ourselves a mountain to climb.

“Listen, I put my hands up too. The formation was maybe the wrong decision as we looked more comfortable in the second half when we changed it, but you can’t account for individual errors. We didn’t clear set plays properly.

“At this level, chances are few and far between. It wasn’t really harsh words (at half-time), it was more a bit of honesty. I gave the players the opportunity to speak up and they realise that performance was nowhere near good enough.

“The supporters came out tonight in their numbers and we’ve really let them down. We certainly lifted our performance in the second half but it’s just hugely disappointing that we conceded a fourth goal late on.”