Leicester was no doubt one of the most talked about football teams and clubs last season in world football. They shocked everybody with their Premier League title triumph that earned them a place in the Champions League.
The Foxes were top seeds in their group as champions of England and on Wednesday night they opened their Champions League campaign with a 3-0 away win at Belgian champions, Club Brugge.
Riyad Mahrez scored a brace after winger Marc Albrighton had opened the scoring early on for the Foxes. Their inconsistent Premier League form this season was forgotten about and Claudio Ranieri’s side produced the sort of performance that was commonplace last season.
Club Brugge are far more experienced than the Foxes in European football, even if much of their experience has been gathered in the Europa League, rather than the League. They had also endured a poor start to their domestic campaign, so they did not head into the clash in the best of spirits.
Leicester ruthlessly took advantage of Brugge’s low morale and looked like Champions League veterans in the process by recording an impressive win. The Foxes lifted themselves after a 4-1 weekend hammering at Liverpool to record a crucial win.
The win could turn out to be crucial in the sense that Ranieri’s team will be looking to top their group in order to get a more comfortable draw in the last-16 of the competition.
The other game in the group between FC Porto and Copenhagen finished 1-1, which means that the Foxes now have an advantage over the Portuguese side, who were considered as favourites by many to win the group.
Sooner or later the Foxes form is likely to recover in the Premier League and they will move up the table. It seems doubtful that they will be able to repeat their achievement of last season, but they have certainly made a bright start to their Champions League campaign.