February 24, (THEWILL) –Â Leicester advanced to the final 16 of the Europa Conference League on Thursday night, defeating Randers 3-1 in Denmark on the night to win the two-leg series 7-2.
In each half, Harvey Barnes and James Maddison scored with Wilfred Ndidi and Kelechi Iheanacho providing assists. However, Randers questioned Kasper Schmeichel throughout the 90 minutes and eventually pulled one back through Stephen Odey late on.
With far too much room on the left wing for Barnes to drive into, Leicester needed just a few minutes to expand their already dominating aggregate lead. He stretched his body out and slid the ball into the far corner for the Foxes’ quickest ever European goal from Ndidi’s pass after two minutes.
Kasper Schmeichel and Luke Thomas combined to prevent an immediate equaliser.
Despite the fact that they were losing by such a large margin overall, Randers were willing to play for pride. They were restricted to only producing a few chances, though, as Leicester’s greater talent was evident.
The Danes had a couple more chances towards the conclusion of the first half, but they could not capitalise on them to cut the deficit in half.
After the break, Schmeichel’s reflexes were put to the test, and Maddison should have extended Leicester’s advantage on the night around the hour mark. He only made amends a little later with a spectacular free-kick into the top corner.
Maddison’s second goal, and Leicester’s third, was even better, bending the ball into the top corner from open play after a long Leicester passing sequence, as Iheanacho provided the final touch for Maddison.
Schmeichel’s clean sheet was lost by a mis-kick following a wobble on the pitch, with Odey capitalising after squandering earlier chances. Randers, on the other hand, probably just got the bare minimum on the night.
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.
