A Winning Start To Friday's Double-Header

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A Winning Start To Friday's Double-Header

A second-half brace from Patson Daka helped us come from behind to seal a 2-1 pre-season victory over FC Karpaty Lviv on Friday.

2025-07-25T12:21+01:00

by Sam Stevens

Published

25 Jul, 2025

A Winning Start To Friday's Double-Header

A second-half brace from Patson Daka helped us come from behind to seal a 2-1 pre-season victory over FC Karpaty Lviv on Friday.

Sam Stevens

2025-07-25T12:21+01:00

A Winning Start To Friday's Double-Header

A second-half brace from Patson Daka helped us come from behind to seal a 2-1 pre-season victory over FC Karpaty Lviv on Friday.

Sam Stevens

2025-07-25T12:21+01:00

A Winning Start To Friday's Double-Header

A second-half brace from Patson Daka helped us come from behind to seal a 2-1 pre-season victory over FC Karpaty Lviv on Friday.

Sam Stevens

2025-07-25T12:21+01:00

A Winning Start To Friday's Double-Header

A second-half brace from Patson Daka helped us come from behind to seal a 2-1 pre-season victory over FC Karpaty Lviv on Friday.

Sam Stevens

2025-07-25T12:21+01:00

The first of two pre-season friendlies on Friday, the XI was a mix of youth and experience, with Academy players Will Alves and Luke Evans sharing a line-up with the likes of Wilfred Ndidi and Hamza Choudhury in Friedburg.

Yaroslav Karabin’s wonderful free-kick put the Ukrainian side in front early on in the second half, but Daka’s double – one from the penalty spot and another a well-taken first-time finish – flipped this friendly on its head and kept the wins coming in pre-season.

Early openings

With Manager Martí Cifuentes watching on from the technical area, City had the majority of the ball early on, although both sides weren’t able to initially carve out a high degree of opportunities on an overcast morning in northern Austria.

One chance did come our way 10 minutes in, mind you, as Alves surged forwards down the middle, leaving the Karpaty midfield in his wake. He slid the ball out wide, to Evans, who in turn fed Daka. The Zambian had his back to goal, but was still able to get a shot away, spinning on the spot and firing narrowly wide of the far post.

Karpaty also had their moments, namely when Jean Pedroso headed wide inside the area, but Leicester were otherwise comfortable in the contest during the first 45.

The goals begin to flow

The early stages of the second half were decidedly more eventful. We found ourselves behind to the Ukrainian Premier League outfit just two minutes in, too, as a stunning free-kick from Karabin flew over the wall and into the top corner.

Almost immediately from the restart, City were on the front foot. An inviting ball from Alves, down the left flank, gave Evans something to strive for. The 16-year-old stretched to get there and referee Lena Hirtl adjudged Denys Miroshnichenko’s challenge to be an illegal one.

Up stepped Daka to take the spot-kick, drilled centrally, and such was the power of the strike, there was little goalkeeper Nazar Domchak could do to keep it out.

Winning it in the latter stages

Karabin’s hit needed a Faes block on the hour mark to keep the scores level, before three more youngsters joined the action. Silko Thomas, Wanya Marçal and Ben Nelson were introduced for the final half-hour, getting valuable minutes in the tank.

Choudhury also tested Domchak, Karpaty’s 18-year-old shot-stopper, gliding the ball towards goal with the outside of his right boot, but the ‘keeper was up to it.

An inch-perfect through-ball from Bilal El Khannouss, in the 73rd minute, is what unlocked the Karpaty defence for our winner. Daka was the recipient, seizing on the opportunity to divert a first-time effort into the bottom corner to keep our summer winning run rolling into the afternoon – against FC Köln (4pm BST kick-off).

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