Eu Reds: Kalmar

Hours ahead of Cliftonville hosting Nordsjælland in the first leg of our Europa League First Qualifying Round tie, we continue our mini series of continental anniversaries by turning the clock back six years to our most recent encounter with Scandinavian opposition.

For it was on this day in 2012 that the Reds were eliminated at this same stage of the competition when Kalmar overcame a one goal deficit to record a comfortable 4-0 win at the Guldfageln Arena in Sweden.

Leading thanks to Liam Boyce’s strike in Belfast seven days earlier, Cliftonville saw their advantage wiped out after just 10 minutes thanks to Erik Isrealsson’s opener.

Nenad Dordevic and Abiola Dauda converted to make it 3-0 before half-time and, though the Reds came agonisingly close to bagging the away goal that would have set up a tense finale, the Swedes wrapped up a 4-1 aggregate success when goalkeeper Etrit Berisha scored an injury-time penalty.