February 17, (THEWILL) – English Premier League side Leicester City escaped a small fright to beat Randers 4-1 in their Europa Conference League knockout phase play-off.
Thankfully, by the final whistle, Brendan Rodgers’ side had reaped from their dominance of the fixture at the King Power Stadium, taking a commanding lead into the second leg next Thursday.
The Foxes got off to a quick start and could have taken the lead in the first minute when Harvey Barnes’ long-range effort dropped to new Super Eagles player Ademola Lookman, but the winger could not quite handle the ball to punish the Randers.
Then, the visitors had a good chance to score, only for Leicester’s Kasper Schmeichel to save Tosin Kehinde’s stinging effort. At the other end, when Youri Tielemans’ searching cross was met by Patson Daka’s head, the Zambian’s glancing header went barely over the top.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall slipped Daka through seconds later, but his initial touch let him down, and goalkeeper Patrik Carlgren was able to sweep up.
With Leicester continuing their fast start, Dewsbury-Hall was denied the opener by Carlgren’s feet. However, Leicester eventually took the lead midway through the first half when Wilfred Ndidi swept in following a corner with Lookman’s assist.
Barnes’ dazzling run almost resulted in the hosts’ second goal, but Carlgren once again saved Randers’ blushes, before the Swede’s right foot was all that prevented Dewsbury-Hall from notching up his second goal in a Leicester shirt not long after.
Carlgren saved Caglar Soyuncu’s half-volley, and it appeared for all the world that Daniel Amartey would head home the rebound, but he could not keep his effort on goal.
On the stroke of half-time, however, Randers equalised against the run of play. Kehinde took advantage of Marc Albrighton’s mistake to close the gap and allow Vito Hammershy-Mistrati to beat Schmeichel.
However, Leicester regained the lead again shortly after the break, as Barnes took advantage of a mix-up in the Randers area to take Carlgren out of the way and put the hosts back in front.
Soon after, Daka made it three when he was the first to react to Tielemans’ original effort, despite the fact that replays revealed he was an inch offside.
After superb work by Lookman and Kelechi Iheanacho on a rapid counter, Dewsbury-Hall finally got a deserved goal, and the Nigerian forward Iheanacho nearly made it five almost immediately from the subsequent kick-off.
In sad news for Brendan Rodgers, his substitute James Maddison, tumbled down off the ball and had to be treated for a long time before being carried off.
With a close-range header in injury time, the selfless Lookman came close to adding a goal of his own, but he only found the side-netting, leaving Leicester with a three-goal lead to carry to Denmark next week.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
