Women's Champions League highlights: Real Madrid 4-0 Celtic

Adam Binnie
BBC Sport Scotland

Spirited Celtic were eventually swept aside by Real Madrid as they lost their second group match in a row in the Women's Champions League.

Real's Scotland international Caroline Weir, not long back from a year out with a knee injury, curled in a brilliant opener from distance after just seven minutes at the Alfredo di Stefano Stadium.

However, the hosts initially struggled to add to their early lead as some profligacy and stout Celtic defending kept them at bay.

Celtic then started the second period brightly with Emma Lawton and Murphy Agnew passing up big opportunities to equalise, before Real eventually found their rhythm.

Substitute Signe Bruun headed in Eva Navarro's cross to double the hosts' advantage after 72 minutes, and Caroline Moller added a third with a delicate dink to catch goalkeeper Kelsey Daugherty off her line.

Linda Caicedo netted Real's fourth from the penalty spot to seal their first points of this Champions League campaign after losing to Chelsea in their opener.

After two matches, Celtic are winless and without a goal having lost their first game 2-0 to Twente, but head coach Elena Sadiku could take plenty of positives from a brave display for 70 minutes in the Spanish capital.

Celtic show encouraging signs

Tactically, Celtic played about as well as could be expected, but they just ran out of steam in the final quarter.

Sadiku set up her side to tame Real's firepower, and had it not been for Weir's early wonder strike, they could have entered the dressing room at the break very satisfied with their start.

Their usual 3-4-2-1 formation looked more like a 5-4-1 as the hosts expectedly dominated the ball and the chances, but most of Real's efforts for the first hour were comfortable for goalkeeper Daughtery.

Sadiku started three natural wing-backs with Celya Barclais and Lawton doubling up on the dazzling Caicedo on Real's left side.

The Colombian was still electric, but Barclais and Lawton suffocated the space she was afforded to work her magic around the box.

Consequently, Caicedo was often forced to look for an extra pass instead of taking on a shot herself, which helped Celtic limit chances for 63 minutes after Weir's opener.

Ultimately, the Spanish side were too strong as they turned on the style - cutting Celtic apart as Navarro was teed up for the crucial second, while Moller's chip from distance was silky.

This display will give the Scottish champions more encouragement than their opening performance against Twente on their group stage debut, but it only gets tougher next time as they face Chelsea home and away in November.

What they said

Celtic manager Elena Sadiku: "I think how we played football was amazing against a team like Real Madrid. I'm very proud of the team. First half, we defended well and had energy from the girls.

"Second half, we created chances and that could've changed the game. We need to be executing those better. It shouldn't have been a 4-0 loss, 2-0 would've been more acceptable."

Celtic captain Kelly Clark: "The game was difficult but I'm proud of the performance. An amazing experience from start to finish, having so many Celtic fans in the crowd and hearing them the whole game.

"If you said to me in January that I'd be sitting here doing this, I would never have believed you."

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