Larne exit on Champions League home debut

Larne crashed out of the Champions League after losing 4-0 to Rigas FS in the second leg of their first qualifying round tie and bowing out 7-0 on aggregate.
The Northern Ireland champions faced an uphill battle after losing the first leg 3-0 in Riga last week and the tie was taken away from them before half-time in the return at Inver Park as RFS extended their aggregate lead to 6-0.

A scrappy first period was punctuated with seven yellow cards – five for the hosts and two for the Latvian champions – while Emerson Baiano slammed home the opening goal in the 38th minute.

Darko Lemajic added their second in the 44th minute and Janis Ikaunieks made it 3-0 in first-half stoppage time.

Ismael Diomande further extended the visitors lead 11 minutes after the restart and with the tie all but over, both sides made a raft of second-half substitutions.

Larne, back-to-back Irish Premiership winners, also fell at the first hurdle in the Champions League last season, while RFS have won 11 and drawn one of their past 12 games in all competitions and are currently top of the Virsliga table.

It marked a first-ever Champions League tie at Inver Park.

Larne will now enter August’s Europa Conference League third qualifying round.