City’s Austria Trip Ends With Narrow Udinese Defeat
Live on LCFC TV, the Foxes fell behind after just four minutes as Kevin Lasagna beat stopper Danny Ward from close range.
Winger Marc Albrighton then had two opportunities to level, heading wide initially before Simone Scuffet held onto his long-range drive shortly after.
Ward made a fine low stop to deny Antonin Barak, but he could do nothing about Darwin Machís’ effort, as the Udinese forward slotted in for 2-0.
Changes for the Foxes followed on the half-hour mark, as Ben Chilwell, Islam Slimani and Andy King replaced Adrien Silva, Albrighton and Leonardo Ulloa.
After the break, more City stars were introduced, including Ricardo Pereira, who nearly made an immediate impact after a neat turn and shot was palmed away by Scuffet.
Fellow substitute Ahmed Musa then went on a darting run before seeing his shot deflect wide, while Ward was called into action with just under 15 minutes to play, as he turned away Nicholas Opoku’s fierce effort.
City finally found a breakthrough with a minute to play. Musa initiated a counter attack and offloaded to debutant Pereira, whose perfectly-weighted through-ball found Kelechi Iheanacho. The Nigeria international held off two markers before finding the bottom corner with a neat finish.
Major moment
Goals: Leicester City 1 Udinese 2
See all the goals from the Foxes' third pre-season test against Serie A outfit Udinese.
Udinese started well and when Kevin Lasagna converted to open the scoring, it made City’s challenge against a competitive Serie A side even more difficult.
After breaking the deadlock, Udinese had a second 19 minutes later but Leicester could not find a reply until the 89th minute.
Who impressed?
Ricardo Pereira was introduced on the hour mark and four minutes later forced Simone Scuffet into a good save at the front post.
He then set up Kelechi Iheanacho for his late strike, registering an assist during his first appearance in Leicester colours.
Coming up…
Next up for City is a King Power Stadium clash with Valencia on Wednesday evening (7.45pm kick-off). Tickets for the fixture are now on general sale.