Football: Leicester win to keep Europa League hopes alive

Leicester City's James Maddison celebrates scoring their second goal with Patson Daka. PHOTO: REUTERS

LEICESTER, ENGLAND (REUTERS) - Leicester City beat Legia Warsaw 3-1 on Thursday (Nov 25) to leap from bottom to top of Europa League Group C and keep alive their hopes of reaching the knockout stages.

The Premier League side have eight points from five games, one more than Spartak Moscow and Napoli and two ahead of Legia, with all four teams still in contention to advance ahead of the last round of games.

Napoli, beaten 2-1 at Spartak on Wednesday, host Leicester while the Russian side visit Legia on Dec 9.

Patson Daka fired Leicester ahead in the 10th minute with a clinical finish and James Maddison made it 2-0 with a superb shot on the turn before Filip Mladenovic pulled one back for Legia.

Mladenovic swept in a rebound after Kasper Schmeichel saved Mahir Emreli's penalty but Wilfred Ndidi, who gave away the spot-kick, made amends with a towering header from Maddison's corner in the 33rd minute.

Rangers advanced to the knockout stages from Group A with a match to spare after Alfredo Morelos scored twice to secure a 2-0 home win over Sparta Prague, as they joined runaway group leaders Olympique Lyonnais in advancing.

The Colombian striker opened the scoring in the 15th minute and added the second in the 49th with a header into an empty net as he intercepted a poor pass by Sparta defender Filip Panak across his own area.

Lyon stayed top after two goals from Rayan Cherki and another by Islam Slimani gave them a 3-1 win at Danish side Brondby.

Monaco advanced from Group B with a 2-1 home victory over Real Sociedad as goals from Kevin Volland and Youssouf Fofana cancelled out Alexander Isak's effort for the visitors.

Vinicius and Bruma scored for PSV Eindhoven in a 2-0 win over visiting Sturm Graz and the Dutch side need a draw in their final group match at Sociedad to progress.

Late substitute Tiquinho Soares scored a 90th-minute winner for Olympiakos to sink Fenerbahce 1-0 in Group D and send the Greek side through along with Eintracht Frankfurt, who stayed top after a 2-2 home draw against Antwerp.

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