U23s Report: Leicester City 0 FC Porto 2

- Leicester City go down to a spirited 2-0 defeat by Porto in the Premier League International Cup

- Goals by Imacio Santos and Erik Palmer-Brown hand the visitors victory at King Power Stadium

- The young Foxes acquitted themselves admirably against an experienced Porto side

- City goalkeeper Daniel Iversen delivered a series of fine saves for Steve Beaglehole's squad

Second-half goals from Imacio Santos and Erik Palmer-Brown gave the visitors an unassailable lead but the young Foxes nonetheless acquitted themselves well against strong opposition. 

City goalkeeper Daniel Iversen, in particular, impressed for Steve Beaglehole’s side and was called upon to make a host of crucial saves with Porto enjoying periods of sustained pressure. 

Leicester started brightly, keeping possession well and linking up effectively in the middle of the pitch, but the first opportunity of the evening fell to Porto, coached by Jose Travares. 

The Portuguese side threatened early on when, after 15 minutes, Childozie Awaziem broke into space behind the City defence and forced Iversen into a smart save at his near post. 

Layton Ndukwu was City’s main threat in the opening 45 minutes and he almost found Alex Pascanu alone at the far post, from a free-kick on the left flank, but Federico Varela made up ground and did well to clear the danger. 

Just before the half-hour mark, however, the visitors went close again when Joris Kayembe hit a fierce drive from outside the penalty area, forcing Iversen to tip it over the crossbar. 

Porto emerged after the break eager to convert their chances and almost did just that when Palmer-Brown rattled City’s crossbar after latching onto a loose ball from just 16 yards out. 

The young Foxes battled hard, though, and enjoyed a spell of dominance of their own just before Porto’s 55th minute opener, a fine free-kick from 25 yards by the menacing Santos. 

There was little Iversen could do to keep Porto from doubling their advantage, either, as Palmer-Brown cut inside the Foxes defence to loop an effort over the City ‘keeper with 10 minutes to play. 

Leicester tried to narrow the arrears in the latter stages with substitutes Raul Uche and Admiral Muskwe both going close from inside the Porto penalty area but their efforts went unrewarded. 

Beaglehole, however, will be buoyed by how his young players acclimatised against more experienced oppostition and, for much of the clash, were a match for their illustrious guests. 

CITY: Iversen, Knight, Kipre, Debayo, Pascanu, Wood (Muskwe 45), Ndukwu (Uche 76), Miles (c), Barnes, Rowe (Eppiah 71), Mitchell. 

SUBS: Dewsbury-Hall, Bramley, Singh-Thandi, Fox. 

FC PORTO: Costa, Awazium, Kayembe (Almeida 76), Soares, Palmer-Brown, Santos, Ramos (Graga 68), Sousa (Araujo 84), Garcia, Varela, Macedo. 

SUBS: Vega, Mata, Verdasca, Galeno. 

GOALS: Santos 55, Palmer-Brown 80.

REFEREE: David Rock