The Premier League champions might have gone behind inside three minutes at the Jan Breydelstadion, but instead Jose Izquierdo missed a glit-edged opportunity for Club Brugge and Marc Albrighton opened the scoring at the other end moments later.
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They may be labouring domestically with just four points from four games but Leicester returned to form in the Champions League with a 3-0 thrashing of Brugge.
“I said from the beginning that the Champions League is an experience for us”.
“We went there [Brugge] to win and we went in with a strong mentality”, Amartey told LCFC TV HD. It feels like only yesterday Chris Wood nailed a thunderous 25-footer at Turf Moor to all but secure the Championship title for Leicester, but Burnley are back in the Premier League after a one-year hiatus and have already beat the likes of Liverpool this season – something Leicester could not.
The game was effectively settled as a contest after 29 minutes when Mahrez curled a superb free kick into the net after veteran defender Timmy Simons had hauled down Jamie Vardy on the edge of the area.
Debutant and club record checking Islam Slimani ought to have made essentially more a awful Benoit Poulain back pass, and was held for pushing Bjorn Engels in the back, with the Belgian shield obliged off with what took after an isolated shoulder.
The hosts were struggling to cope as Mahrez went close with a curling effort before Danny Drinkwater twice drew saves out of Ludovic Butelle, while Vardy tested the keeper from a narrow angle in the closing stages of the first half.
The Clarets are governed by strict guidelines at their Gawthorpe training camp; for example, manager Sean Dyche refuses to allow players to wear gloves or snoods in winter.
Leicester marked their debut in the competition with a comprehensive victory, but they have lost two of their four games in the league this season as their title defence has got off to a slow start. We know very well that it will be a battle.
There will be tougher matches to come for Leicester – their next fixture is a home tie against Group G favourites Porto on 27 September – but the romp against Brugge will have given the Foxes the self-belief that they’re good enough for the Champions League. “It’s important to play in Europe beyond December. that’s our goal”.
“It’s a coach’s job to make substitutions and we’re happy that they paid off”, Zidane said. It’s important Slimani continues to score because if he only scores in the first match we have a problem. “We scored very early and that gave us more confidence during all the match”, Ranieri said.
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This, though, was largely the Leicester team that won the Premier League against all the odds.
