City 2 Brugge 1
Report by Eddie Blount
The final part of the dream continues as Leicester edged past the Belgian champions to qualify for the knockout stages with a group match to spare. December’s away fixture at Porto, arguably the biggest test that this ‘group of life’ has to offer, now becomes meaningless in terms of finishing position in the group as City will top the group regardless of the result at the Dragon Stadium on the banks of the picturesque River Douro in Oporto.
This was duly recognised last night by the roar that greeted the French referee’s final whistle, matched only by City fans understandable schadenfreude (Are you watching Tottenham?) as news came through that Spurs were out of the Champions’ league following their defeat in Monaco.
Ranieri had cautioned before the match against thinking this would be an easy night but many had their doubts after half an hour as City were by then two up and coasting against a Brugge side without a point to show from their previous four group games. It was easy to see why as Brugge were struggling whenever City got the ball over the halfway line though their occasional excursions deep into City territory gave the impression they were better at attacking than defending.
Any early City nerves were quickly settled by a goal after five minutes when Fuchs made progress down the left flank to deliver the perfect cross curling between the centre-backs for the popular Okazaki to meet the bouncing ball with a first-time volley into the roof of keeper Butelle’s net.
On the half hour mark City doubled their lead. Albrighton drove into the left side of the penalty are, thrusting past defender Cools who belied his name by rashly hacking him down for a penalty so obvious that the referee’s nonchalance in quietly pointing to the spot was matched only by the complete indifference to protest of the Brugge defence. You got the impression that this probably happens to them a lot!
Mahrez, an inconsistent penalty taker, took a stuttering run up which prompted Butelle to go early, probably thinking Mahrez would never arrive at the ball, giving the Algerian the easiest of opportunities to roll the ball into the other side of the goal.
Butelle to be fair went on to have an excellent game not least in being aware of the threat from Vardy as the ball was delivered over the top as it frequently was. Even so Vardy’s goal drought for City goes on, the nearest his coming to ending it being a lovely second half back-heel flick into the corner of the net from a left- wing cross by Albrighton ruled out for offside. Goals apart Vardy put in a good shift especially as the first line of defence.
If City fans with long memories thought this was too good to be true they were proved correct as City for the remainder of the half obviously could not decide, in cricketing or football terms, whether to hit Brugge for four or six. At this point we were so superior that you wondered if Brugge would struggle in our Championship! It all seemed like a serious case of ‘game over’ with no point in expending energy on a won cause. Anyway the score was not added to in spite of a situation that in boxing would have led the referee to stop the contest.
At the interval I wondered whether Ranieri would bring on all three substitutes to reduce wear and tear on his faltering squad but none appeared until we were past the three-quarter mark. The reason for his caution was the unlikely occurrence of a goal for the visitors after 52 minutes which changed the game. Fuchs lost the ball on halfway, wide out, to striker Izquierdo who ran a full forty yards and, on reaching the penalty area unleashed a powerful shot past Zieler’s near post.
This was the first goal conceded by City in the Champions’ League, an English record for a club playing at this level for the first time of 4.5 clean sheets which will take a lot of beating. Opinion was divided as to whether Zieler should have stopped it. No keeper likes to be beaten at the near post but this was something of an exocet.
The long term effect of this goal was to confirm suspicions that Zieler is not quite in the same class as Schmeichel. The short term effect was to wake up the Brugge travelling fans and to galvanise the Brugge team. Suddenly we had a match, precipitating an outbreak of severe anxiety amongst home fans with repeated chants of ‘Come on Leicester.’
The second half was very different from the first with play switching from end to end. The better chances went to City and substitutes Schlupp and Gray, twice, should have made the match safe but failed to get the ball past Butelle. Gray’s arrival after 68 minutes was interesting as Ranieri played him behind Vardy. Apparently Gray played in this role for England U-21s and did well but last night he seemed lost before eventually switching to his normal wide position and impressing. If ever Mahrez is unavailable Gray would be a good replacement. He still needs to learn more about defending but so does Mahrez!
Brugge’s efforts were less dangerous but carried some threat as a series of corners pinged back and forth across City’s goal. There was the odd shot but invariably of the Row Z variety. Still the thought came to mind that this was the sort of game where you get a ridiculous result though thankfully it did not come to pass. Ironically this had been our initial impression of the visitors but their second half performance at least showed they could be worthy opponents
So on to the bit where the big boys play. City will have to conjure up the performances of last season to make further progress but we do seem to have the favour of the footballing Gods so only a brave man would bet against us!
Leicester: Zieler, Fuchs, Morgan, Huth, Simpson, Albrighton (Amartey 77), Drinkwater, King, Mahrez (Schlupp 68), Okazaki (Gray 68), Vardy. Subs not used: Hamer, Hernandez, Musa, Ulloa
Club Brugge: Butelle, Cools, Poulain, Mechele, De Bock (Van Rhijn 70), Claudemir (Wesley 84), Simons, Pina (Limbombe 61), Vanaken, Vossen, Izquierdo. Subs not used: Bruzzese, Felipe Gedoz, Denswil, Bolingoli Mbombo
Attendance: 31,443 Referee: Ruddy Buquet
The views expressed in this report are the opinions of the Trust member nominated to file the report only and do not represent the views of the Foxes Trust organisation