U19s Report: Club Brugge 2 Leicester City 1

- Leicester City’s Under-19s made their UEFA Youth League debut on Tuesday evening 

- Dennis Van Vaerenbergh’s double put Club Brugge 2-0 up in the first period 

- Admiral Muskwe pulled one back with a fine finish just before the break 

- City next face FC Porto at Loughborough University on Tuesday 27 September 

Leicester City’s Under-19s were edged out 2-1 on their UEFA Youth League debut by Club Brugge at the Schiervelde Stadium on Tuesday evening. 

Club Brugge raced into a 2-0 lead thanks to Dennis Van Vaerenbergh’s first-half double, but City rallied and got themselves back into the game late in the first period. 

It was a well-worked goal from the young Foxes, as Faiq Bolkiah darted through the middle and slipped in striker Admiral Muskwe, who applied a neat finish to make it 2-1. 

But the hosts defended well in the late stages to repel City’s forward line and in turn secured three Youth League points. 

The first opportunity of the game fell to Brugge defender Niels Verburgh, who blasted a low drive well wide from distance with just four minutes on the clock. 

Forward Bolkiah followed that up with a brilliant run, as he beat Jur Schryvers down the left wing, but there was no one there to meet his delivery. 

The hosts then went ahead on the quarter-hour mark following a neat finish from Van Vaerenbergh, who side-footed in Thibault Vlientinck’s cross from the right. 

City looked to respond immediately and nearly drew level on two occasions. First, Elliott Moore saw his header from Bolkiah’s free kick deflect wide, before Muskwe nodded just off target from inside the box. 

Brugge came close to finding a second goal, this time from a swift counter attack, but captain Max Bramley pulled off an excellent save while one-on-one with Joel Ito with 10 minutes of the first period to play. 

The Belgian outfit did double their lead shortly after, as Van Vaerenbergh won and converted a penalty on 39 minutes. 

But the young Foxes replied with two minutes of the first half to play through Muskwe. Bolkiah surged through and played in the striker, who sent a superb finish into the bottom corner past Brugge stopper Jens Teunckens to halve the deficit. 

The second period proved to be a tight affair, with both sides defending well. A good run from Barnes eventually saw the midfielder send a cross into Ndukwu, but it just evaded in the England youth international. 

Ndukwu threated himself just after the hour mark, as he produced a neat turn before dragging his low effort wide of the target from just inside the box. 

Defender Alex Pascanu came close twice with 15 minutes to play. The left back first saw a front-post flick cleared off the line, while his follow-up was also blocked deep in the Brugge area. 

The young Foxes continued their search of an equaliser and began to pepper the opposition box with deliveries, but Brugge stood strong in the closing stages to see out the win. 

Undoubtedly a valuable experience for City, the young Foxes continue their UEFA Youth League adventure against FC Porto at Loughborough University on Tuesday 27 September (7pm kick-off). 

BRUGGE: Teunckens, Schryvers (c), Verburgh, Lemoine, Touba, Peeters (Lynen 76), Van Landschoot, Ito (Openda 80), Vlietinck (Cornette 71), Van Vaerenbergh, Osei-Berkoe 

SUBS NOT USED: Gabriel, Nuyts, Tanghe, Vanhaecke 

GOALS: Van Vaerenbergh 15, pen 39 

CITY: Bramley (c), Thandi, Moore, Johnson, Pascanu, Sherif, Leshabela (Edwards-John 78), Ndukwu, Bolkiah (Webber 61), Barnes, Muskwe 

SUBS NOT USED: Ughelumba, Yates, Gruno, Brown, Hodby 

GOAL: Muskwe 43 

REFEREE: Laurent Kopriwa