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Reuters
Reuters
Sport

Bamford shines as Leeds come from behind to beat Leicester 3-1

Soccer Football - Premier League - Leicester City v Leeds United - King Power Stadium, Leicester, Britain - January 31, 2021 Leicester City's Marc Albrighton in action with Leeds United's Jack Harrison Pool via REUTERS/Michael Regan

Patrick Bamford scored one and created two goals as Leeds United ended Leicester City's seven-match unbeaten run and denied Brendan Rodgers' side a move up to second in the Premier League with an entertaining 3-1 victory on Sunday.

Leeds remain in 12th, behind Southampton on goal difference, while Leicester are third with 39 points -- two points behind second-placed Manchester United who were held to a goalless draw at Arsenal on Saturday.

"It was a hard game," an exhausted Bamford told Sky Sports. "They're a top team, their position in the table shows that. We had to concentrate the whole game and really fight for it.

Soccer Football - Premier League - Leicester City v Leeds United - King Power Stadium, Leicester, Britain - January 31, 2021 Leeds United's Patrick Bamford celebrates scoring their second goal with teammates Pool via REUTERS/Tim Keeton

"Today we showed we can compete (against the top six). To get the three points is a great achievement and the boys should be proud of themselves."

The home side opened the scoring in the 13th minute when Harvey Barnes charged through the midfield and exchanged passes with James Maddison before finding the bottom corner.

But their lead lasted only two minutes when Bamford spotted Stuart Dallas making a run into the box and slipped a ball through the defence for the midfielder to score the equaliser with a goal identical to Barnes' opener.

Soccer Football - Premier League - Leicester City v Leeds United - King Power Stadium, Leicester, Britain - January 31, 2021 Leicester City's Ricardo Pereira in action with Leeds United's Ezgjan Alioski Pool via REUTERS/Michael Regan

The two sides had the ball in the net again by the half hour mark, courtesy of Ayoze Perez and Mateusz Klich, but they were both ruled out for offside.

Leeds took the lead with 20 minutes to go when Raphinha's first-time through ball gave Bamford space to shoot and the English striker's left-footed strike found the top corner for his 11th goal of the season.

With Leicester forced to pour men forward in search of an equaliser, Leeds scored a third from a counter-attack as Bamford sprinted into space before unselfishly squaring the ball for Jack Harrison to fire into an empty net.

Soccer Football - Premier League - Leicester City v Leeds United - King Power Stadium, Leicester, Britain - January 31, 2021 Leeds United's Illan Meslier makes a save from Leicester City's Ayoze Perez Pool via REUTERS/Michael Regan

"It's a tough one to take, we know how Leeds play and it can end up as a basketball game," Barnes said.

"We played some good football and we created good chances. The goals we are very disappointed with."

Soccer Football - Premier League - Leicester City v Leeds United - King Power Stadium, Leicester, Britain - January 31, 2021 Leeds United's Jack Harrison celebrates scoring their third goal with Helder Costa as Leicester City's Kasper Schmeichel reacts Pool via REUTERS/Tim Keeton

(Reporting by Rohith Nair in Bengaluru; Editing by Christian Radnedge)

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