With Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and Robert Huth left at home, Ranieiri’s shadow squad never got close to the 2004 champions as the Italian gambled on reviving their Premier League season by resting his big names.
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With the likes of titleholder Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Manchester City and Paris Saint-Germain hanging around as possible opponents in Monday’s draw, group winners will be wary.
But this was a humiliating end to the group stage for the central England team, which lacked cohesion and confidence.
Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez have been omitted from Leicester City’s Champions League dead-rubber match against Porto, with manager Claudio Ranieri insisting that he is not anxious by the threat of the sack.
The loss to Chelsea of midfielder N’Golo Kante upset the equilibrium while Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez have yet to rekindle their nearly telepathic partnership of last season. With our effort we made a story.
Tottenham’s hopes of reaching the Champions League last 16 had already vanished but this result means they finish third in Group E and will now drop into Europe’s second tier tournament.
Goalkeeper Iker Casillas will extend his Champions League victory record if Porto triumph as he chases a 94th win having surpassed Xavi in their 1-0 victory over Club Brugge last month.
This does not bode particularly well for a game against Claudio Ranieri’s team, who seem to be reserving all the steeliness of last season’s sensational Premier League title win for European competition.
FC Porto: Casillas; Maxi Pereira, Felipe, Marcano, Layun; Corona, Danilo, Oliver Torres, Brahimi; Diogo Jota, Andre Silva. The players know their responsibilities against Leicester and it will be a hard game.
The story of the second half was no different.
Gonzalo Higuain ended his scoring drought as Juventus beat Dinamo Zagreb 2-0 to win the group.
Leicester had only conceded one goal in their previously unbeaten first Champions League campaign but shipped three in 45 minutes with Silva starting the rout by heading home unchallenged from Corona’s corner after six minutes.
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His status for Wednesday’s fixture is very much in doubt, but Lyon will draw encouragement knowing Sevilla – without manager Jorge Sampaoli due to a touchline ban – have lost on all three previous trips to France.
