RFS lost 0:3 at home to Italian Serie A giants "Fiorentina" in the last game of their UEFA Conference League group, and though they were unable to repeat the heroics of their amazing 1:1 draw in Florence at the start of the campaign they nevertheless delighted a sell-out crowd, which has been treated this season to some fine nights of European football against teams with far greater resources than RFS, including Hearts of Scotland and Başakşehir of Turkey as well as Fiorentina.
All three goals from the visitors came in the first half.
They finished their group in fourth place, with two draws and four losses from their six matches, but that doesn't really do justice to the excellence of their effort – they were far from the whipping boys of the group and secured draws against the two teams finishing top of the table, Başakşehir and Fiorentina.
They have also made plenty of footballing friends along the way and raised expectations of what Latvian footba can achieve.
RFS is only the second Latvian team in history to reach this far in European competition. Ventspils had previously played in the group tournament of the European club competition, 13 years ago.
The UEFA Conference League is the third-tier club competition in Europe, after the Champions League and the Europa League.
