By Leon Smith

Premier League Champions, Leicester City, were hammered 5-0 by FC Porto on a miserable night in Portugal, for Claudio Ranieri’s men.

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A frustrated Ranieri said after the game that “we wanted to see something different tonight, but it was too easy for Porto. We didn’t make them fight to score.”

Ranieri made ten changes from Leicester’s defeat to Sunderland at the weekend but it made little difference. Leicester, who had already qualified as group winners, started slowly and it took the Portuguese side just six minutes to go in front. Porto striker, Andre Silva, found himself unchallenged from a corner to head past keeper Ben Hamer.

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Leicester’s defending left much to be desired on the night and Porto doubled their lead mid-way through the first half, when Jesus Corona found himself unmarked and volleyed home from ten yards, into the roof of the net.

It got even worse for the Foxes just before half time when more poor defending in the box, allowed Yacine Brahimi to flick home his first goal of the campaign and his side’s third of the night.

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With Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and Islam Slimani all left at home by Ranieri, the Italian turned to Marc Albrighton and Leonardo Ulloa, who replaced Jeffrey Schlupp and Ahmed Musa, both of whom had been less than in impressive in the first half.

Leicester showed glimpses of promise at the start of the second half with Shinji Okazaki going close with a header before Demarai Gray fired over from close range.

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However, the Premier League Champion’s night went from bad to worse. In the 64th minute, the returning Danny Drinkwater pulled down Andre Silva in the box and the striker picked himself up, before converting the penalty to score his second of the night.

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In front of 3,000 travelling fans, Leicester were a shadow of the team who won the Premier League six months ago and showed no signs of taking anything from the game.

FC Porto scored their fifth, when the Leicester defence allowed Diogo Jota to walk through the middle of their defence and slide the ball under the legs of Hamer.

It wasn’t until the 88th minute that Leicester had their first corner of the game. From the corner, substitute Ulloa hit the cross bar, which was met by sarcastic cheers from the Leicester fans who were still inside the Estadio Dragao.

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“I am sad for our fans. They deserved more. I didn’t see what I have seen in training on the pitch tonight,” said Ranieri. “I have a clearer idea about my players now. We need to focus on the Premier League and change our position.”

Leicester welcome Manchester City to The King Power on Saturday in the Premier League, hoping to register their first league win since October. The Champions will have to put tonight’s horror show behind them quickly, if they hope to turn their league form around.