Slayer Slimani haunts Porto as Leicester take control of group
Islam Slimani lived up to his nickname as gritty Leicester took control of Group G with a deserved 1-0 win over Porto.
Striker Slimani, labelled the Dragon Slayer after his run of goals against Porto, bagged his sixth goal of 2016 against them.
He had netted five in three games for previous club Sporting Lisbon against Porto before his £29 million deadline-day move to Leicester, and grabbed the winner against the Dragons as the Foxes hosted a Champions League game for the first time.
That left Leicester two points clear at the top of the table as they made it successive Champions League wins following their opening victory at Club Brugge.
Jesus Corona hit the post late on for Porto as the Foxes rode out late pressure and Copenhagen’s 4-0 win over Brugge allowed the pair breathing space over their beaten rivals.
Defeat also continued Porto’s wretched run of results in England and they have now failed to win in 17 attempts.
Porto, now third in the group with one point, offered little apart from their late rally and Claudio Ranieri’s side should be increasingly confident of reaching the knock-out stages.
The Italian recalled Kasper Schmeichel after he missed three games through injury
0 Leicester’s Algerian striker Islam Slimani powers home a header against Porto as Claudio Ranieri’s side made it two wins from two. and the goalkeeper was almost embarrassed by Andre Silva’s lob in the opening minutes.
Porto showed more composure and threat than the Club Brugge side Leicester brushed aside 3-0 in their opening game but that soon evaporated as the Foxes grew into the game. Jamie Vardy and Riyad Mahrez began to irritate the visitors’ defence, while Slimani’s scoring history against them was obvious and it was the Foxes’ record signing who netted the winner on 25 minutes after combining with Algeria team-mate Mahrez.
The winger teased an opening on the right and he swung in a delicious delivery which begged for the finishing touch and Slimani delivered, powering in a header from three yards.
After haunting Porto in the Primeira Liga there was little sign of the 28-year-old stopping and the visitors quickly ran out of ideas. Miguel Layun’s free-kick dropped inches wide after 33 minutes but Wes Morgan and Robert Huth kept Porto under control.
The only fear for Leicester was the temperament of Turkish referee Cuneyt Cakir, who had issued four yellow cards with varying degrees of consistency.
He promptly booked Danilo and Huth in the opening ten minutes of the second half as Alex Telles planted a free-kick over following Huth’s shove on Silva.
The Foxes continued in a degree of comfort though and Mahrez had Iker Casillas scrambling to save his low 59th-minute effort.
Schmeichel had been given an easy ride by listless Porto but needed to be alert with 18 minutes left to gather Diogo Jota’s shot after it hit Morgan.
That sparked Porto into life and Schmeichel palmed Hector Herrera’s half-volley wide before surviving a huge scare with eight minutes left.
The Denmark international came for, and missed, a cross and the ball fell for Corona who lashed a 15-yard volley against the post, but Leicester survived. Andre Schurrle’s late equaliser gave Borussia Dortmund a 2-2 home draw against Group F rivals Real Madrid.
Ronaldo grabbed his 95th Champions League goal for the visitors but Pierre-emerick Aubameyang equalised. Raphael Varane restored Real’s advantage before substitute Schurrle’s late strike.
Sporting Lisbon defeated Legia Warsaw in the other Group F match.
Miralem Pjanic opened the scoring in Juventus’s first victory in Group H, a 4-0 defeat of Dinamo Zagreb, before setting up Gonzalo Higuain for the second.
Paulo Dybala added Juve’s third before home goalkeeper Adrian Semper fumbled Dani Alves’ late deflected effort into his own net.
A stoppage-time goal by Kamil Glik rescued a 1-1 draw for Monaco at home to Bayer Leverkusen, after Javier Hernandez looked to have headed a 73rdminute winner.