KB Sport: Leicester City overtook all three Europa League opponents to top Group C after an easy 3-1 win over Legia Warsaw at the King Power Stadium. The Foxes finished at the bottom of the group on Thursday, but with Sparta Moscow beating Napoli 2-1 on Wednesday, Brendan Rodgers' side are now at the top of the table thanks to first-half goals from Patterson Dhaka, James Madison and Wilfrid Ndidi.
Aside from Philip Mladenovic's consolation, Rodgers' only downside that night was losing Jonny Evans to a muscle injury in a warm-up game, with Daniel Amalte replacing him in defence. The Premier League team will head to Napoli for the final match of the group stage, knowing that a draw would be enough to advance them to the knockout stages. Leicester City put pressure on the visiting team from the first whistle and led in the 11th minute when the excellent work of Harvey Barnes forced a deflection in Daka, which slipped calmly in his fifth Europa League goal of the season.
They doubled their lead in the 21st minute when Madison crossed the ball to his left foot after a one-two tie with Adamora Lukeman before shooting into the top corner of the net. Just five minutes later, Poland scored a penalty as Kaglar Soyunku's clearance hit Wilfrid Ndidi's arm. Marsil Emreli's penalty was saved by Casper Schmeichel, but Mladenovic followed up the fastest and went into the rebound. However, Ndidi made up for his penalty concession in the 33rd minute as the unmarked Nigerian headed a header from Madison's corner in Leicester City's third corner. Both teams could have added goals in the second half, but the hosts were delighted to see the victory, their second win in this year's Europa League group stage.
Leicester City avenged their 1-0 defeat in the reversal with relative ease in the second round and now sit at the top of Group C, one point ahead of Sparta Moscow and Napoli. Rodgers will be very happy with this after scoring just one point in the first two games of the group stage, although it is expected to have a tough final at Napoli in two weeks. The Foxes have now lost just two of their 16 home games in European football (W9 D5). Madison had a quiet start to the season, but he was at his most influential best in the game against Legia, where he made three shots, two key passes and sent six crosses.
The 25-year-old also scored and assisted for Leicester City in a single game for the third time in all competitions, after scoring and assisting against Atlético Braga (europa league in November 2020) and Brentford (in the FA Cup in January 2021). Marek Golebiewski's side have now lost nine of their last ten matches and are second-to-last in Poland's top flight. It was Legia Warsaw's first European match in England since November 1995, when they drew 0-0 with Blackburn Rovers in the Champions League group stage and, despite being on the goal list, never looked like rotting in Leicester City.
The Warsaw Legion suffered their first-ever away loss to their English opponents at the European Cup, following two away games against Manchester United (1-1 against Manchester United on 1991 and 0-0 against Blackburn on November 1995). Leicester City scored three goals in the first half of a major European event (excluding qualifiers) for the second time, after playing against Glenavin in the Cup winners' Cup in September 1961. - Only Jamie Vardy (seven) has scored more goals in all competitions than Dhaka (six) in all competitions at Leicester City this season, and five of his six goals for the Foxes have been scored in the Europa League. - Despite conceding a goal from rebounds, Schmeichel saved leicester City (excluding a penalty shootout) for leicester City (excluding a penalty shootout) for the first time since playing against Brighton in the Premier League in June 2020, conceding nine consecutive penalties for the Foxes in all prior to the game. Leicester City hosted former boss Claudio Ranieri and his Watford team at home in the Premier League on Sunday, while Legia Warsaw took on Białystok at home on the same day.