Choudhury Takes Pride In Maiden European Goal

- Leicester City beat AEK Athens 2-1 in the UEFA Europa League on Thursday evening
- Hamza Choudhury marked his first European start with a goal for the Foxes in the Greek capital
- The Academy graduate was delighted to play such a prominent role for Brendan Rodgers' men
- Recent results give Leicester confidence they can go far in the competition, Choudhury says

On his full debut in the UEFA Europa League, Choudhury's composed, side-footed effort doubled City's lead in Athens, following Jamie Vardy's powerful spot-kick in the 18th minute.

While Muamer Tanković got one back for AEK at Athens Olympic Stadium, the Foxes held out for a second successive win in the competition to leave them top of Group G.

"We're really, really pleased," Choudhury told LCFC TV. "In Europe, especially, it's important to do well in your away games. It can be really tricky coming to clubs like this away from home.

"It's a new experience for a lot of us, but like the manager said in there, he's really proud and I think we all should be, coming here and getting a result like we have so it's a really big three points.

"It's so important to start games well. They put on a bit of pressure for the first five minutes, and we slowly played our way into it and then the two goals came at really good times, so it was really good.

"And then they scored early on and then another 10/15 minutes of a lot of pressure, but we showed how resilient we are and how much hard work we're willing to put in as a team.

"Big Wes (Wes Morgan), Sharky (Marc Albrighton) out there, defending really well, JJ (James Justin), of course, but like we say, we've got really good squad depth and it is really important to hold out for those 15 minutes.

"We made the changes and the subs came on and held out, so like I say, it's a really, really good result away from home."

On his goal, his second in Leicester's colours, Choudhury added: "Yes, amazing, really! It's a massive achievement to score in Europe.

"I'd like to say I've dreamt about it but I haven't, but it's a really, really big achievement for me and my family so it's a really nice feeling and an even better one being the winner.

"(Assistant manager) Chris [Davies] takes us through a lot of our attacking set pieces, so he wanted me to go out the back and to put stuff back in from the back post.

"Obviously, I got the chance to get a shot off, so I was in the right position at the right time and luckily it went in!"

The 22-year-old midfielder believes City's recent run, including a 3-0 European victory over Zorya Luhansk and a 1-0 success at Arsenal in the Premier League, gives them confidence on all fronts.

"It gives us really good confidence as a group," he explained. "Like I said, coming away in Europe is really difficult, so we're just going to push on now and try and win every game.

"I think that's been drilled into us now by the gaffer that every game is as important as the last, so we'll go into the two games that we've got against Braga looking to get another six points.

"We just want to build and build and hopefully have a successful run in this tournament."