Leicester City, who stunned the world previous year by winning the English Premier League, delivered a convincing 3-0 performance against Club Brugge in Bruges.
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There was little evidence of first night nerves as winger Marc Albrighton opened the scoring within the opening minutes before Riyad Mahrez converted two set pieces; a stunning free-kick in the first half and penalty in the second. They’re not starting things off at home, but fans in England will be hoping they’re up for the challenge of heading to Belgium to face Club Brugge.
Unable to satisfactorily replace midfield dynamo N’Golo Kante, Leicester have struggled to compete in the centre of the park – a failing that was particularly brutally highlighted in last weekend’s 4-1 deconstruction at the hands of Liverpool. Of course the Champions League is much better, but now we play just the first match.
“Of course we have to change something [for this game], but we can’t change our style”. They tried to find a right solution but it was very hard. Ronaldo’s boyhood club turns up at the Santiago Bernabeu in good shape after a 3-0 win over Moreirense at the weekend maintained its flawless start to the Portuguese season.
“If he hadn’t scored I’d take his neck and crush his neck!” he said. “He took the responsibility”. I’ve tried to do that here. “He was a lucky man!”
“Maybe the music woke up him!” the Leicester manager said. “Maybe he is very exhausted of listening to dilly-ding, dilly-dong and prefers the Champions League music”. “He was very good”.
The English champions responded nearly immediately to that early scare as Albrighton capitalised on a failed clearance from Luis Hernandez’s long throw-in to net the historic opener from six yards out. Against Brugge there was a team who wanted to react after the bad defeat and it was hard for everyone.
Leicester City take on Club Brugge in the 2016/17 Champions League clash at the Jan Breydel Stadium on 14 September, Wednesday.
“At this moment it means this team are better than the others. It’s not easy but we have started well and this will give us confidence”.
Leicester City looking to confound the doubters again, as they prepare for debut Champions League campaign.
“It feels special, I’m not getting any younger and to still be able to, at 32 years old, be involved in a competition like this is fantastic”, he said, with Leicester waiting to see how Danny Simpson recovers from a hamstring injury.
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Sporting had the match at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium largely under control and was rewarded when Brazilian midfielder Bruno Cesar gave scored with a shot from inside the area in the 48th minute.
