Leicester City 0 – 5 Porto: Foxes embarrassed as they top Group G

Leicester City finished tonight at the top of Group G in the Champions League but not before conceding 5 away from home to Porto.

The Premier League champions Leicester City continued their European travels tonight as Claudio Ranieri’s men traveled to Estádio do Dragão in Porto.

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The night ended in misery for the traveling fans as Porto put 5 goals past an incredibly weakened Leicester side.

To put things into perspective, the defeat was the worst defeat in the Champions League by an English side since it’s reformatting.

Boss Claudio Ranieri elected to take what can only be described as their ‘League Cup Squad’ to Portugal with very few senior squad members traveling.

The main reason for this was that  a number of players on the verge of a ban for having one too many yellow cards, players which include Robert Huth and the ‘Dragon Slayer’ himself Islam Slimani.

Even the more experienced players included in the starting line-up were not fully fit, with Danny Drinkwater currently banned by the FA for 3 games due to Violent Conduct and Nampalys Mendy having his first start since his injury in the second week of the Premier League against Arsenal.

The game itself ended exactly how you’d expect it to, with Porto coming out not only on top but on top by a significant margin.

With Ben Hamer in goal, who Middlesborough decided not to buy following their purchase of former Barcelona goalkeeper Victor Valdes, traveling fans knew what kind of night they were in for.

What is disappointing however is the performance of the fringe players which started tonight.

Tonight was their opportunity to give 100% and show Ranieri that maybe they need to included in the league side which is currently letting Claudio down.

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Instead, Jeff Schlupp decided that he couldn’t be bothered to run inbehind the Porto defence, the same goes for Ahmed Musa who despite having a bad game, looked good in flashes, it’s just a shame the flashes were so few and far between.

Things went from bad to worse as Danny Drinkwater, one of the only senior players in the starting line-up pulled up injured with what looked to be a ligament injury.

Leicester’s midfield leader will be having scans on his return to the Midlands but things do not look great for the England international.

However it’s not all doom and gloom, Shinji Okazaki once again showed exactly why he’s essential to Leicester City.

His work-rate was unmatched and looked to be the only Leicester player willing to press the backline of Porto.

It’s not only Shinji that held his own, Demarai Gray also had a good game. When the youngster was on the ball he looked like he could make things happen, it’s a shame that he was working one step ahead of his team-mates.

The defeat cannot be on Claudio Ranieri who understandably decided not to risk essential players and instead elected to play youth and give fringe players a chance to prove their worth, it’s just a shame that both he and the fans were let down.

Regardless of the result, Leicester still remain top of the group going into Monday’s Champions League draw which could see them match up against Bayern Munich, PSG or even Real Madrid.

Next: Leicester City: Ranieri keeps quiet as fee is agreed for Genk Midfielder

Whoever Leicester draw, it’s safe to say that Claudio Ranieri won’t be fielding Ben Hamer or Martin Wasilewski.