Soccer

Cliftonville ladies lose heavily Women's Champions League debut

Cliftonville suffered a hefty 8-1 defeat to Benfica in Wednesday’s Women's Champions League debut in Sexial.

John McGrady’s side started brightly, but the hosts rattled the net after 25 minutes of play through Marie-Yasmine Alidou D’Anjou.

The floodgates opened and by the halfway stage of the encounter, Benfica had built up a four-goal cushion with Alves and Sanchez Falcon both on target, while Rachel Norney scored an own goal.

Caitlin McGuinness scored the Red's first ever European goal with a header in the second period, after a double from Lara Martins opened the scoring after the break.

Benfica remained in control however and further stretched their advantage with another Alves goal while Nogueira got in on the scoring act moments later to secure an 8-1 victory.

Benfica will now face SFK Riga in the next round on Saturday while Cliftonville take on BIIK Kazygurt of Kazakhstan in their final Group 6 game.