Beaglehole's Pride Despite Shootout Defeat

- Leicester City's Development Squad were beaten on penalties by Bayern Munich on Wednesday
- The Foxes held Bayern to a 1-1 draw over normal and extra-time at Holmes Park
- As a result, City's youngsters exited the Premier League International Cup in the last-eight
- Steve Beaglehole praised his talented Under-23s squad for their application in the fixture

City and their German visitors were level at 1-1 after extra-time, after Kwasi-Okyere Wriedt’s opener was equalised by Alex Pascanu, but a 5-4 defeat on penalties followed on Wednesday.

However, the Club’s Senior Professional Development Phase Coach struggled to find any faults with his side's application after a stirring performance in front of a large home crowd.

“I’m gutted for them, really gutted,” Beaglehole told LCFC TV. “I thought we gave everything, I thought we were the better team.

“They had three over-age players, it’s Bayern Munich, they play in the Bundesliga 2 and they’ve been hammering teams.

“They’re a strong, physical side, and I thought we more than matched them for the physicality side of it and I thought we played some really good football.

“I’m really disappointed that we conceded early in the game but we kept chipping away and I thought they were very, very well organised defensively.

“I thought they were very, very difficult to break down and it looked like we were going to go out.

“We kept going right to the end, and Pascanu, who I thought was excellent defensively, he gets the goal that takes it to extra-time right at the death.

“Then, in extra-time, we had chances. I thought we played some lovely football, just didn’t have that cutting edge, but neither did they, and it went to penalties and anything can happen.

“All the penalties were good, Layton’s [Ndukwu] penalty was not a bad penalty, it was a good save, but the Germans again come up trumps winning on penalties!”

Beaglehole also praised the impact the Premier League International Cup has had on City’s season, providing them a platform to play Feyenoord, Sparta Prague and Bayern.

“I can’t ask for any more,” he added. “It would have been great to get to the semi-finals but we’ve took an awful lot out of this competition.

“I’ve just said to the lads… when they are really on it, they show how good they are.

“I thought, again, sometimes it’s difficult to single people out, but as I say, I thought [Kiernan] Dewsbury-Hall was terrific in the middle of the park, he was the standout midfield player.

“[Sam Hughes] coming back, he’s showing more now, what we know we’ve got. Pascanu [was] excellent and all-round, a really good display.

“I’m sure that the senior staff that were there would be pleased and there’s some good young players coming through.”