Leicester City started their journey in the UEFA Champions League knockout stages with a respectable 2-1 loss away at the home of the current Europa League holders. With poor league form, many Leicester fans feared the worst as they made the trip to sunny Spain.

Around 10,000 Foxes fans were in Seville during the day of the game and were not disappointed as the temperature hit 23 degrees, which prompted plenty of the Foxes faithful to get their shorts out for the first time this year. While they certainly weren't expecting a win from the game, a narrow loss and an away goal were what every Leicester wanted to take home with them, as much as they didn't expect either outcome.

As the game approached, the Blue Army made their way through Central Seville to the Ramon Sanchez Pizguan Stadium, which was only about a 15-minute walk from where the Leicester fans had congregated. The Foxes fans piled into the ground in their hundreds as the Sevilla fans took to their seats and an atmosphere began to build. As kick-off came nearer, every single Sevilla fan took to their feet to sing 'Himno Centenario', the song that is blasted out before every home game. Both sets of fans were ready for the game and the Leicester fans hoped that their team was also ready.

The match

The game kicked off at 8:45 (Seville time) and it was clear to see that the hosts were more up for it than the Premier League champions. After a lot of early pressure from the Spanish side and a few top-drawer saves from Kasper Schmeichel, Sevilla finally broke the deadlock in the 25th minute as Pablo Sarabia's header just snuck into the far corner. This came after Schmeichel saved Angel Correa's weak penalty just 10 minutes before the goal. 

The visitors came out much stronger in the second half and started to apply some pressure of their own but their progress came to nothing as Sevilla doubles their lead with an explosive counter-attack. Stevan Jovetic cut through the Leicester defence before teeing up Correa to finish off the move. With half an hour left, the Foxes didn't let their heads drop and their efforts were rewarded with a vital away goal from Jamie Vardy, who else. A well-worked Leicester move that ended with Danny Drinkwater's perfect cross onto the foot of his England team-mate. Leicester take a huge away goal into the second leg as well as a narrow one-goal deficit.

The good

The main positive to take from the first leg is obviously the result, if you'd have offered any Leicester fan a 2-1 loss, they would've bitten your hand off. But apart from that, there were several good aspects from the game. Jamie Vardy's poor form going into the game looked like it may have been a problem but his tireless work in the first leg was vital. He turned out to be his team's saviour as his 73rd minute finish meant Leicester are still right in with a chnace of going through to the next round. He clearly took this work rate back into the league as he ran himself into the ground and scored 2 goals as the Foxes won 3-1 against Liverpool in their first match since the sad departure of Claudio Ranieri.

Wilfred N'Didi is continuing to show that he might just be the answer to the huge gap left by the sale of N'Golo Kante. At the young age of 20 the last thing that he needs is the intense pressure that we've seen put upon younsters in the Premier League in the past. He showed a very high work rate as well as good tackling, intercepting and passing, which does resemble a player that had plenty of success for Leicester last season. Like Vardy, he took this form into the league and will hopefully kick on this season as his midfield partner, Danny Drinkwater, also looks to have rekindled the form that won his side the league last season.

After his introduction in the 58th minute, Demarai Gray had a huge impact on the Foxes' approach to the game as he has done on so many occasions this season. When he came on, Leicester attacked the Sevilla defence in a direct way and their direct approach was the thing that forced their goal as Drinkwater drove into the opposition box. While many have called Gray greedy, there is absolutely no doubt that the team is better with him in it and he has been a breath of fresh air for the Foxes in the league this season.

Kasper Schmeichel earned himself the Man of the Match award and it was definitely what he deserved from the tie. Without him between the sticks, Leicester could quite easily be down and out of this tie and he made several huge saves including the penalty save in the first half. His influence as a second captain to Wes Morgan has been massive and will certainly be a major factor in the Foxes' fight to stay in the Premier League this season.

The Bad

The first half was one of the worst halves of football that the Foxes have played all season, which is certainly saying something. And if it wasn't for Schmeichel, the two-legged affair would've been put to bed way before the whistle blew for the half-time interval. The Dane made some fantastic saves but his side shouldn't have got themselves in so many positions where they were conceding the shots. Luckily the shocking first half showing was put right in the second half with a much better performance.

As they have on so many occasions this season, the Leicester defence really wasn't at the races for large parts of the match. Danny Simpson, Wes Morgan and Christian Fuchs (not so much Robert Huth) looked like rabbits in the Champions League headlights for most of the first half and some of the second half. The penalty conceded by Morgan epitomised this abysmal defending as he stupidly swung his right leg at a ball that he was never going to realistically get to.

The performances of Ahmed Musa and Marc Albrighton on the flanks were only marginally better than the defenders and this was shown as a large amount of Foxes fans cheered when Musa was brought off with just over half an hour left on the clock. It was one of those nights for Albrighton as everything he seemed to try just didn't go to plan and his lacklustre passes were often the catalysts for Sevilla attacks while Simpson behind him wasn't helping matters.

And the verdict

With Ranieri very sadly being relieved of his managerial duties just a day after the game in the South of Spain, the future has begun to look much better for the Foxes. They've won their first two Premier League games under interim boss, Craig Shakespeare, with two 3-1 wins over Liverpool and Hull. The chance of them progressing through to the next round of the Champions League is very high as well, a 1-0 win over Sevilla will see them through. Many Leicester fans think the job should be Shakespeare's because of his history with the club and his obvious ability to get the players up to their best levels again. He should definitely be given the chance to manage the team until the end of the season if nothing else. With a great chance of survival now and a brilliant chance to get through to the next round of the Champions League, why shouldn't Foxes fans be dreaming again?