Foxes and citizens fire but Spurs fall short

LEICESTER CITY made light work of their first ever Champions League tie as they hammered Club Brugge 3-0 away on Wednesday, September 14.

Future opponents may not be as obliging as the Belgian outfit, but Leicester played exceedingly well as they appeared to rediscover some of last season’s scintillating form.

Winger Marc Albrighton scored with the Foxes’ first shot as he took advantage of a defensive mix-up following Luis Hernandez’s long throw, before Riyad Mahrez curled in a superb free kick to make it 2-0 before half-time.

Mahrez then blasted in a penalty after Jamie Vardy was tripped by the keeper, and in truth the English champions could have won by a greater margin as they cemented an early lead in Group G.

Elsewhere, Manchester City destroyed Borussia Monchengladbach 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium in their rearranged fixture after the game was called off due to heavy rains on Tuesday.

Argentinian hotshot Sergio Aguero notched a hat trick, his second of this fledgling European campaign, before substitute Kelechi Iheanacho completed the rout.

City also handed a debut to German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan following his recovery from injury to take second place in Group C behind Barcelona, who annihilated Scottish champions Celtic 7-0 on Tuesday night.

 Tottenham Hotspur’s campaign began with a disappointing 2-1 home defeat to AS Monaco in front of an English record 85,011 crowd at Wembley.

Playing in Europe’s elite competition for the first time since 2010-11, Spurs are using the national stadium for their home games due to refurbishments at White Hart Lane.

They dominated initially but fell behind to goals from Bernardo Silva and Thomas Lemar, before defender Toby Alderweireld pulled one back on the stroke of half time.

Holders Real Madrid pulled off a lucky escape as they scored twice in the last few minutes to beat Sporting Lisbon 2-1 at the Bernabeu in their opening tie.

Bruno Cesar had given the Portugese an unexpected lead that they held until the death, when Cristiano Ronaldo scored with a free kick before Alvaro Morata won it with a thumping header.

Among the other favourites for this year’s competition, Borussia Dortmund beat Legia Warsaw 6-0 and Juventus were held 0-0 at home by Sevilla.