Glasgow City were “different class” as they recovered from an early setback to reach the Women’s Champions League last 16, says head coach Scott Booth.
Kristina Komissarova levelled the tie early for Chertanovo Moscow, but the home side eventually eased through to the last 16 for a second year running.
Hayley Lauder claimed a double, with Claire Shine and Rachel McLauchlan also scoring in a 4-1 second-leg win.
City will go into Monday’s draw as one of the eight unseeded teams.
Booth’s side are Scotland’s sole survivors after Hibernian lost 9-2 to Slavia Prague 24 hours earlier and the head coach is looking for “a tie that gives us a chance” after last season’s 8-0 aggregate loss to Barcelona.
Barcelona are again one of the other sides to progress, with Manchester City, Lyon, Paris St-Germain, Bayern Munich and Wolfsburg among the possible, seeded opponents along with Brondby and Slavia.
Arsenal, with four Scotland internationals in their squad, are among the unseeded sides along with City.
Booth admitted that the early goal at Petershill Park had left him nervous but told BBC Alba: “I think for 88 minutes we were fantastic, but it was just that first two minutes we got caught and that’s the danger that team have – they have pace up front.
“But I thought the recovery from that was difference class from the players. They created numerous chances and played some really good football.”
‘I’m definitely claiming the last one’
City went behind when Russia midfielder Komissarova found herself one-on-one with Lee Alexander after beating the home back line for pace and comfortably slotted the ball past the goalkeeper.
Just four minutes later, the Scottish champions found the leveller when Lauder gracefully side-footed in from a Shine cross.
Kirsty Howat fired just wide and McLauchlan’s stinging long-range strike bounced off the crossbar, but City’s pressure told after 29 minutes as striker Shine bulleted the ball over the top of goalkeeper Diana Ponomareva.
Booth’s side dominated the majority of the second half, proving too strong for their Russian opposition, who were competing in the Champions League for the very first time.
City put the tie beyond the visitors after 66 minutes through McLauchlin’s blistering long-range drive.
Lauder insisted City’s fourth goal was hers after a scramble on the goal line also involving the goalkeeper and a defender, who appeared to get the final touch.
“I’m definitely claiming the last one, but Rachel’s goal was the pick of the bunch,” the Scotland midfielder said.
“We came back from Moscow with a 1-0 lead and that was very important to us and we were disappointed to the lose the early goal, but I think our response to that was fantastic.”
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