Daniel Taylor's match report
Full-time: Brugge 0-3 Leicester
Leicester’s first match in the Champions League turned into a doddle. They coasted to victory thanks in part to opponents who made them feel welcome by offering regular gifts. All three Leicester goals originated in defensive mistakes, which were punished expertly. Leicester will face tougher tests but they passed this one with ease.
Updated
90 min: Ulloa booked for sliding into a challenge with the keeper. The crowd yelped, the keeper cried and Ulloa didn’t do much wrong but saw yellow all the same.
88 min: As Brugge knock the ball around, probing in vain for an opening that might lead to some consolation, the only sound in the stadium is the merry singing of the away fans. They’re having a party.
86 min: Excellent defending by Morgan at the near post, sensing a dangerous cross and then snuffing it out.
84 min: A lightning counterattack by Leicester offers Gray a chance to nab his first goal for Leicester. Under pressure from a defender, however, he fires over from 15 yards.
Updated
83 min: Vossen pesters Albrighton into giving away a corner. They take it short ot De Bock, who curls in a nice cross. It falls to Vossen ... who then falls over. Nope, still not happening for Brugge.
81 min: Huth climbs high to meet a corner kick, but his header spins wide.
Updated
Leicester substitution: Gray on, Mahrez off.
80 min: Sisyphus keeps rolling that rock up the hill. And is rewarded with a corner, but the delivery is woeful. It’s just not happening for Brugge.
Brugge substitution: Gedoz on, Izquierdo off.
76 min: Musa barges through four Brugge defenders with embarrassing ease. He then smashes the ball across goal, and Mahrez nearly gets no the end of it to snatch a hat-trick. Brugge, it has to be said, are some shower.
74 min: Leicester have got that Friday afternoon-in-the-office feeling now, just going through the motions till it’s time to start the celebrations.
70 min: Hernandez hurls in another mighty throw-in. Huth rises and nods it towards goal from six yards. The keeper saves.
Leicester substitution: Musa on, Vardy off.
67 min: Brugge’s pride has been properly bruised, and they’re responding by producing their most threatening spell of play since the opening minutes. It amounts to a bouncing long-rage shot by Desnwil. Schmeichel watches it all the way and smothers it.
64 min: That’s lovely stuff from Brugge at last! A foxy reverse pass rewarded a sly run by Izquierdo, who then jinked past Hernandez and cracked a low shot past Schmeichel from 10 yards. But it bounces out off the butt of the post!
Brugge substitution: Vossen on, Diaby off.
Leicester substitution: Ulloa on, Slimani off.
GOAL! Brugge 0-3 Leicester (Mahrez pen, 61)
Mahrez takes a slow run-up, waiting for the keeper to commit, and then drives the ball straight down the middle of the goal as Butelle falls to the left.
Updated
PENALTY TO LEICESTER!
Yet another defensive blunder creates a chance for Vardy, who pounces on the ball and sprints into the box. He knocks the ball past the keeper, who wipes him out with a trailing leg. Yellow card for Butelle .... and another goal for Leicester?
Updated
58 min: Another defensive mistake by Brugge opens the door for Leicester! Slimani tries to intercept a blind backpass by Poulain but misses it ... and so does the keeper ... but Butelle spins and recoups the ball before the Algerian can make a series of misjudgements seem like an inspired dummy.
Updated
56 min: Diaby has a pop from 20 yards. It takes a nick off a defender, which makes the save even easier for Schmeichel.
54 min: Albrighton canters down the right and swings in a cross. It’s too high for Slimani but Mahrez retrieves it and then clips a wicked cross back into the danger zone. Brugge scramble it clear. But it seems only a matter of time before Leicester increase their lead. Brugge are out of their depth.
51 min: Engels can’t continue so is replaced by Benoit Poulain.
48 min: Slimani booked for shoving Engels into Butelle in frustration at not being able to reach a hopeful through-ball. It won’t be the first time we see flashes of hot temper from the striker, who’s got a notoriously short fuse. Engels injured his arm in the fall and has to leave the pitch for treatment. He looks in so much discomfort that it’s difficult to imagine he’ll be back.
47 min: Brugge obviously got a rocket at half-time because they’ve come out firing. Hernandez is forced to make an urgent intervention to head the ball over his own bar and concede a corner. Leicester then clear the danger.
46 min: Here we go again, as David Coverdale nearly sang. Neither manager made a substitution during the break.
Half-time: Brugge 0-2 Leicester
It’s been a pleasant trip to Bruges for Leicester so far. It could have got hairy if Izquierdo had not wasted an early chance for the home side but Leicester then showed their efficiency by exploiting two mistakes to score two fine goals, a close-range finish by Albrighton and a sumptuous freekick by Mahrez. The victory is in the bag here, unless they start thinking like that.
Updated
44 min: Vardy scorches past the last defender again, but a heavy touch takes him wider than he would have wished and he has to shoot from an acute angle. Butelle saves.
Updated
42 min: Van Rhijn drives to the byline and cuts back a dangerous cross. Amartey intercepts and calmly defuses the situation. He’s had a solid game so far, the Ghanaian.
40 min: A Mahrez corner is cleared at the near post. At least Brugge thought it was clear ... but Drinkwater pounced on the ball and let fly with a stonking volley from over 35 yards and darn near scored! Butelle tipped it over the bar.
38 min: Slimani is involved to good effect this time, playing a tidy one-two with Mahrez, who bangs a shot wide from 28 yards.
36 min: Albrighton gets back to do some valuable defensive work, winning the ball before trying to pick out Slimani with a long pass. Slimani can’t get to it and that, in fact, has been pretty much the story of his half so far: the Algerian has worked hard but the service has been imprecise and he hasn’t been to get hold of the ball
33 min: Engels booked for a bad tackle from behind on Vardy. Drinkwater’s feeling so upbeat that he tries smashing the freekick in from 35 yards. It’s a fair strike but straight at the keeper, who holds it.
31 min: This Champions League lark’s a doddle for Leicester. Brugge don’t look capable of knocking them out of their comfortable stride now.
GOAL! Brugge 0-2 Leicester (Mahrez 28)
What a delicious freekick! Mahrez swerves the ball around the wall from 20 yards, beyond Butelle and into the net!
Updated
27 min: Simons escapes with a booking after chopping down Vardy on the edge of the box after the striker had pounced on a loose pass by Brugge. The defender should have been sent off. Can Leicester punish them from the freekick?
25 min: Izquierdo is causing serious bother to Hernanadez, who is resorting to risky grappling in an attempt to keep pace with the winger. The ref waves play on this time ... and Izquierdo shanks the cross.
23 min: In this group’s other game, Porto are winning 1-0 at home to Copenhagen.
21 min: Izquierdo shows his speed by racing past Hernandez. He then fires in a dangerous cross that Huth has to put behind for a corner. Fuchs whacks clear in the six-yard box.
18 min: Vanaken sends an errant pass towards Vardy on halfway. The striker flips it wide to Mahrez on the right, then spins and charges towards the area. Mahrez skedaddles down the wing and sends a cross towards Slimani. Brugge put it behind for a corner. From the setpiece Morgan sends a looping header over the bar.
15 min: Brugge are having a lot of the ball now but struggling to find any space. That early miss by Izquierdo seems to have been doubly costly, as it not only deprived Brugge of a goal but also warned Huth and Morgan about venturing too high. It looks like they’ll e harder to infiltrate now.
12 min: Brugge are given a rather generous freekick about 35 yards from goal. They try a training ground routine. Oh dear. They need more practice.
10 min: Albrighton collects the ball on the left and tries to deliver a cross. He’s denied, but at the expense of a throw-in. Here comes Hernandez to hurl in another one ... Brugge defend it stoutly.
8 min: That goal rather puts a crack in the toilet of Brugge’s pre-match plan. They’re going to have to go in search of an equaliser and that could see them play into Leicester’s hands.
GOAL! Brugge 0-1 Leicester (Albrighton 5)
Leicester take full advantage of their reprieve ... and of an error by Butelle. The keeper came off his line to try to catch a long throw-in by Hernandez but Vanaken was unaware of his intentions and tried to head it clear. He succeeded only in flicking it towards the back post, where Albrighton dived in front of a defender to bundle the ball into the net and become Leicester’s first scorer in Europe’s elite competition! What opportunism by the midfielder and what a start for the English champions!
3 min: Brugge should be in front! Leicester were prised open with remarkable ease, as Vanaken pounced on the ball in midfield and slide it between Huth and Morgan, who were uncharacteristically high. Izquierdo scampered on to it and was clean through. Schmeichel hared out to the edge of the area but the forward’s low shot beat him ... and went a couple of yards wide of the far post.
2 min: The (very) early signs are that Brugge are respectful of Leicester’s status as Premier League champions and, what’s more, have done their homework: they’re not about to bound forward and expose themselves to Leicester’s counterattack. They’re playing with three central defenders and a cautious demeanour.
1 min: We have kick-off. Leicester go long for Slimani within seconds.
For those asking (that means you, Eric Bindle), Leicester are wearing white with blue pinstripes. Brugge are in dark blue shirts with black trims, black shorts and blue socks.
The teams line up to listen to the Champions League anthem. Pfft, Leicester usually have Andrea Boccelli...
In 1884 Timisoara became the first town in Europe to get electric street lighting and now it’s everywhere. In the same year, Leicester City were founded and now, 132 years later, they’re the talk of every town in Europe. Here they come ...
Claudio Ranieri to the TV man just now: “It’s good for us to see what we can do in this competition … Of course, there is something different but we have to play our football: we can’t change our ways. We are solid and strong and have to play.”
After a home league match against Standard Liege earlier this season, Brugge fans were sanctioned for displaying a banner that read: “Your future is like your city: grey, miserable and stupid.” (Which didn’t particularly please their manager, Michel Preud’homme, who’s from Liege and played for and managed the club with distinction) So let’s keep our eyes out for any tokens of esteem for Leicester and its charms. They’d better not have a pop at Engelbert Humperdinck.
Updated
There’s a strong case for saying that Leicester will do better in the Champions League than they will in the Premier League this season (though, personally, I expect them to do quite well in both). At their best they have something of Diego Simeone’s Atletico Madrid about them: fast, sharp, unyielding warriors who can be deadly on the counter-attack. Slimani has all those qualities and provides an extra aerial threat (and Musa is a terrific, rapid option off the bench). The only things that are stopping me from declaring them European champions right now is the doubt about Huth and Morgan’s ability to remain as impenetrable as last season and real concern about Amartey’s ability to dominate central midfield. How about you, how far do you see Leicester going in the Champions League. Will Brugge, Porto and Copenhagen humble them at the first hurdle?
Updated
Team news:
The teams are in and the big news is that Islam Slimani is making is debut for Leicester. Up front for the home side, meanwhile, is Abou Diaby ... no, not that one. This one’s a 25-year-old Mali international. (The preamble, by the way, is a little farther down the page. Never be afraid to deviate from tradition)
Brugge: Butelle; Van Rhijn, Engels, Denswil, De Bock; Vormer, Simons, Pina, Vanaken; Diaby, Izquierdo
Subs: Bruzzee, Poulsin, Claudemir, Vossen, Gedos, Cools, Bolingoll
Leicester: Schmeichel; Hernandez, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs; Albrighton, Drinkwater, Amartey, Mahrez; Slimani, Vardy
Subs: Zieler, Chilwell, Musa, King, Gray, Ulloa, Wasilewski
Referee: T Sidiropoulos (Greece)
Updated
Preamble
Hello and welcome to an event no one ever thought would happen: Leicester City entering Europe as Premier League champions. Until a few months ago Leicester’s roll of honour consisted of three League Cup wins from 132 years of toil, but now here they are flying the flag for England on the international stage while Liverpool and Manchester United watch from tear-stained sofas and Aston Villa and Nottingham Forest are foraging in the relative wilderness, trying to scavenge points off Brentford and Rotherham United as we speak.
Leicester’s European pedigree is not what you’d call rich: they’ve only ever won one tie and that was against Glenavon in the preliminary round of a competition that no longer exists (the Cup Winners’ Cup, back in 1961). They had a couple of forays into the Uefa Cup around the turn of the millennium but lost in the first round both times. Given that context, some Leicester players may feel unusually nervous when they march out on to the pitch today but, even though their Premier League campaign has not with a stutter, it seems unduly pessimistic to suggest that Leicester are going to flop like Blackburn Rovers did in the 1995-96 edition of this tournament, when they made a godawful show of themselves on the way to finishing bottom of a straightforward group (but if two players are going to come to blows à la Graeme Le Saux and David Batty, let it be Wes Morgan and Robert Huth: that’d be a fight to behold). Leicester have enough quality and, surely, enough mettle to overcome a Club Brugge side who are suffering a far worse dose of post-title blues than the visitors, the hosts currently lying 10th in the Belgian league. That bad start is one of the reasons why the 29,000-seater Jan Breydel stadium is not expected to be full tonight. But it’s still a fitting venue for Leicester to start their unlikely Champions League campaign, as Breydel was a modest 13th-century Flemish butcher who overthrew the mighty established order (archives, perhaps keen to highlight the fairytale nature of this achievement, make no mention of generous backing for Breydel by a billionaire Thai duty-free mogul). Bring it!
Updated
