Spartak Moscow 3-4 Leicester City
UEFA Europa League Group C
Wednesday 20 October, Stadion Spartak

Goals: Spartak - Sobolev 11’, 86’, Larsson 44’; Leicester - Daka 45’, 48’, 54’, 79’

Aleksandr Sobolev set Spartak up for a promising start against English Premier League side Leicester early on thanks to a small slice of fortune. The forward cut inside from the edge of the box, and struck a firm shot headed towards the far post - until it struck Boubakary Soumare, wrong-footing Kasper Schmeichel and squirming inside the near post instead.

Despite Leicester controlling almost twice Spartak’s possession and passes at this point, the hosts doubled their advantage just before the break thanks to some tenacious pressing from Victor Moses. The Nigerian robbed a sloppy Caglar Soyuncu of possession, before cutting a well-judged cross back to Jordan Larsson to side-foot home a first-time finish.

Within 10 minutes straddling the half-time break, Spartak were rocked by a superb hattrick from Patson Daka. Seconds after Larsson’s goal, the Zambian was picked out by a simple looping ball over the top of Spartak’s defense from Kelechi Iheanacho, and he slotted comfortably past Aleksandr Maksimenko.

The second half had barely got going when Iheanacho got behind the defensive line and squared for Daka to finish from a few yards out. A few minutes later, Youri Tielemans threaded a perfect through ball that exposed Nikolay Rasskazov’s loose positioning into Daka’s path, and he had no trouble slotting the equaliser. 

The damage wasn’t over, as Leicester broke forward rapidly with 12 minutes to go. James Maddison - who had stung Maksimenko’s hands in the first half - picked out Daka with embarrassing ease, and the striker took one touch before guiding a smooth fourth.

Just as the match was slipping through Spartak’s fingers, Quincy Promes carved out an opening to set up a tense finish. His weighted pass sent Moses clear to the byline, and again the winger’s cutback was pinpoint - this time finding the outstretched leg of Sobolev to reduce the deficit.

Time ran out on Rui Vitoria’s men though as Leicester held on for an exhilarating win ahead of the return match in a fortnight’s time.

Spartak drop to third on three points, while Leicester overtake them into second on four points.

Next Europa League fixture: Thursday 4 November - Leicester vs Spartak