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Leicester managed two wins from two Europa League group stage matches, as first-half goals from Jamie Vardy and Hamza Choudhury proved to be enough to secure victory over AEK Athens. The hosts threatened to ruin Leicester’s trip to Greece when Muamer Tankovic cut the deficit early in the second half, but Brendan Rodgers’ team thwarted any comeback, preparing perfectly for next week’s duel with Braga, who also has the maximum points in the group.
Rodgers made five changes to the team that started last weekend’s Premier League win over Arsenal, but that doesn’t reflect a lack of commitment to a tournament where Leicester are aiming to go far. Rather, the high turnover was partly due to another pair of injuries, with Timothy Castagne and Jonny Evans suffering stresses that forced them to miss this game; Rodgers suggested the Belgian is likely to be out of action for about three weeks with hamstring problems. The demands of an exceptional season are taking their toll on Leicester. But that didn’t stop them from getting another good result.
Their slightly patched team looked a bit scruffy at times in Greece, but they showed quality when it mattered most, unlike their hosts, who stayed behind to curse wasted spikes. Leicester gave up a chance in the 12th minute when they were caught dozing as AEK delivered a quick throw-in, leaving Petros Mantalos to hit the ball just over the bar from the edge of the area. After that, Rodgers’ team took over for a while.
Wesley Fofana, the most confident of the three center-backs, launched a beautiful play in the 16th minute that James Maddison nearly capped off with a goal, sweeping a shot from the edge of the area just inches wide. Two minutes later, the visitors took the lead thanks to another clever play, with Maddison lifting the ball into the space behind the front line and passing a pass to Vardy, who was brought down by the goalkeeper. Vardy thrashed the penalty into the net, his shot was too powerful for Panagiotis Tsintotas to keep him out.
Vardy and Maddison deftly combined again in the 23rd minute to present Cengiz Under with the opportunity to cap his first Leicester start with a goal. The winger, on loan from Roma, tried to send a shot between Tsintotas’ legs but the goalkeeper blocked it.
AEK, who lost the first group match 3-0 to Braga, needed to counter-attack and soon created two chances for Marko Livaja to equalize. First, Kasper Schmeichel cleared his header from eight yards and then, after Wes Morgan inadvertently deflected Christian Fuchs with a loose pass, Livaja fired a flush just off the edge of the box. The home team coach made his judgment on those two mistakes clear by substituting for Livaja at half-time.
However, before that, Leicester stressed the value of being a clinician. Maddison’s corner kick from the right ran to the other side of the box, from where Choudhury launched a crafty low shot past the keeper at the first post. It was just Choudhury’s second goal since he graduated from Leicester academy in the senior team, and an ideal way to score his first start in European competition.
The complexion of the game changed just after the break when Tankovic justified his coach’s decision to send him in place of Livaja. The Swede jumped the Leicester offside trap by making a smart run from deep to catch a pass from Mantalos and pass the ball to Schmeichel from seven yards.
Mantalos invited Tankovic to do something similar two minutes later, but this time the forward launched his shot over the crossbar. That was a huge relief for a Leicester defense that lacked cohesion even after being readjusted at halftime, when Fuchs was replaced by Luke Thomas and James Justin moved to center from the wing.
Under almost gave Leicester more room to breathe just after the hour, but his deft shot from the corner of the box bounced off the post. Shortly after, Under retired when Rodgers made more substitutions, part of his efforts to ration the players’ workload. They did the job without any more scares.
