Leicester City manager, Claudio Ranieri made sweeping changes for his team’s game against Porto to give his key players a rest, but the Italian does appear to be struggling to find his strongest XI.
The Italian has not named an unchanged side for two consecutive games since 10 September – 14 games ago.
It may be that a lack of consistency is affecting the Leicester players but Ranieri will be forced to rethink his starting line-up once again for this weekend’s game against Manchester City.
Drinkwater – a crucial player for Leicester in their title-winning season – was substituted with a knee injury towards the end of the second half and an extended absence would be a blow for the Foxes, although Ranieri said after the game that he did not believe the injury to be serious.
‘We didn’t show our character’
“I have a clearer idea about my players now,” said Ranieri afterwards.
“We wanted to see something different, but it was too easy for Porto. We didn’t make them fight to score.
“We can lose, but I want us to show our character and our strength. We didn’t do that well enough.”
Already qualified Leicester City suffered the worst defeat by an English team in the Champions League as Porto recorded an overwhelming victory to join the Foxes in the last 16.
Leicester were already assured of progressing as Group G winners before the game and boss Claudio Ranieri made 10 changes to his starting XI.
Porto needed to win to guarantee their place in the knockout stage and made the ideal start when Andre Silva headed home.
The Portuguese side dominated throughout, with Leicester rarely making it out of their own half, and added a deserved second through Jesus Corona’s stunning volley.
Yacine Brahimi then scored a brilliant third just before half-time, backheeling Maxi Pereira’s cross beyond goalkeeper Ben Hamer, before Silva converted a second-half penalty following Danny Drinkwater’s foul.
Diogo Jota rounded off the scoring late on, slotting home after being put through on goal.
The result took some of the shine off Leicester’s previous performances in the Champions League this season, but they can now look forward to the draw for the last 16, which takes place on Monday at around 11:00 GMT.
