Links With The Past: Albrighton's Bruges Boots

On Wednesday 14 September, 2016, when City faced Club Brugge at the Jan Breydel Stadium in their Champions League debut, it only took five minutes for them to take the lead when Albrighton scored with the Foxes’ first shot following Luis Hernández's long throw.    

A double from Riyad Mahrez, one a stunning free-kick and the other a well-taken penalty, registered a momentous result for the Football Club in Bruges. Albrighton's goal, though, was the first-ever Champions League strike in Leicester's history. It will remembered for many years by the Blue Army.

It followed a fairy-tale season for Leicester when Claudio Ranieri guided the Foxes to a staggering Premier League title victory - just a single season after they had so narrowly avoided relegation to the Championship during their maiden campaign back in the top flight after a decade away. 

A couple of weeks after the Brugge game, Marc kindly allowed the boots he was wearing that night to become part of the Club’s heritage collection. They are currently on display in the reception area at King Power Stadium, along with other mementoes from City’s European campaign that season.

The 3-0 victory in this fixture was only the second time in four European campaigns that Leicester City had beaten continental opposition, the only previous occasion being the European Cup Winners’ Cup victory over Glenavon in 1961.

Leicester reached the quarter-finals of the prestigious competition, advancing further than any other English side, also defeating FC Porto, FC Copenhagen and FC Sevilla, before suffering a narrow aggregate defeat by Atlético Madrid in the last-eight stage.