Patson Daka and James Maddison gave Leicester a two-goal lead inside 20 minutes before Legia pulled one back through Filip Mladenovic but Wilfred Ndidi's headed goal sealed Leicester's win.
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Leicester City defeated Legia Warsaw 3-1 in the Europa league group stage fixture on Thursday to move to the top of Group C. The English club came into the match as the bottom placed side in the group but quickly broke the deadlock through Patson Daka before James Maddison doubled the lead inside 20 minutes. A clumsy handball from Wilfred Ndidi, inside the box allowed the visitors to pull one back through Filip Mladenovic after Mahir Emreli’s initial spot kick was saved by Kasper Schmeichel. However, Ndidi quickly made amends as he headed home from Maddison’s corner kick.
Leicester started the match positively and took the lead within nine minutes of kick-off. Luke Thomas stole the ball in the middle of the park before spreading it to winger Harvey Barnes on the left flank. The 23-year-old cut inside and dribbled past three players before running onto a dead end but he got a lucky break and the ball ricocheted through to Daka inside the penalty area. The Zambian drilled the ball past Legian goalkeeper Cezary Miszta.
It was the forward’s fifth goal in the competition and he is now Leicester’s leading European goal scorer. Brendon Rodgers’ side were playing some quick aggressive football and added a second in the 21st minute. Maddison laid the ball to Ademola Lookman on the right side before collecting the cut back inside the area. The playmaker dummied two defenders with a Cruyff turn before firing home with his left foot from 12 yards.
The visitors halved the deficit courtesy of an unfortunate handball from Ndidi inside the area. The referee pointed to the spot, but Schmeichel made a low diving save to his left to deny Emreli but Mladenovic was the quickest to react as he converted the rebound in the 26th minute.
But the Foxes continued to play positive attacking football and restored the two goal lead within seven minutes. Maddison sent in an in-swinging corner from the left flank for Ndidi to head home from close range to seal the three points for Leicester.
Despite being in a comfortable position, Leicester continued to play attacking football after the restart. Barnes and Thomas combined to get inside the box but the latters shot was saved by Miszta.
Barnes was having a great game on the left flank as he played a one-two with Daka to get inside the box but his shot was blocked by Miszta and the subsequent shot from the rebound side-netted. Few minutes later, Timothy Castagne tested Miszta.
Meanwhile the attention turned to the Legia fans, who were involved in battles with the police mid-way through the second half. Police were sent into the stadium to deal the situation.
Rodgers said after the match “We’re at the top, in a great position and they (Napoli) will need to win and we need to get a result.
“Going into the last game, if we had said that before we kicked off, we would have taken that.
“You see the quality in the group, like Spartak beating Napoli and all the teams having good results but we are in control where we finish. Our objective at the beginning was to qualify so that’s all in our hands.”
