Patson Daka hits four as Leicester thumps Spartak Moscow in the Europa League

Leicester City came from behind to overturn a two-goal deficit to beat Spartak Moscow 4-3 in Russia, with Patson Daka impressively scoring all four goals for the Foxes in a Europa League tie.

Spartak Moscow, who headed into the match second in the group took the lead through Alexander Sobolev’s deflected opener, with Jordan Larsson finishing calmly in the 44th minute to double their advantage.

Daka scored his first almost immediately after, however, and then grabbed a second just after the break before tucking home in the 54th minute to complete a nine-minute hat-trick.

The Zambian striker was not done there, however, lashing in his fourth with 12 minutes of normal time remaining – a much-needed goal for the Foxes as Sobolev set up a nervy finish with an 86th-minute strike.

Patson Daka celebrates after scoring for Leicester City against Spartak Moscow in a Europa League tie. | PHOTO: Courtesy |

The victory sees Brendan Rodgers’ side earn their first Europa League win of the campaign, lifting them at least temporarily into second place in Group C, having been bottom coming into this match

Sobolev opened the scoring for Spartak in fortuitous fashion as his cross from the left took a wicked deflection that caught Kasper Schmeichel off-guard at his near post.

Leicester looked threatening in the opening 15 minutes but faded as the half wore on and went 2-0 down when Caglar Soyuncu was robbed by Victor Moses as the Foxes tried to play out from defense, with the former Chelsea winger cutting back into the box for Larsson to side-foot home and make Spartak two to the good.

Daka reduced the lead for the hosts just a minute later, however, running onto Kelechi Iheanacho’s ball over the top and slotting past Aleksandr Maksimenko, despite the goalkeeper getting a touch.

The Foxes leveled the scores just three minutes after half-time via the same combination as Iheanacho slid the ball across the face of goal for Daka to tap in and Leicester’s comeback was completed as the striker who has five goals in two matches grabbed his hat-trick, racing onto Youri Tielemans’ perfectly weighted through ball and slotting between the legs of Maksimenko.

The 23-year-old center-forward hit his fourth goal in the 78th minute to extend Leicester’s lead, racing in behind as James Maddison played him into the box before firing a left-footed effort inside the near post.

Daka’s fourth goal proved necessary as Sobolev arrived in the penalty area to prod Moses’ cut-back from the byline in and reduce the deficit with four minutes of normal time left, but Spartak was unable to find a leveler before the final whistle.

Leicester City’s Patson Daka scored four goals against Spartak Moscow in the Europa League to take home the match ball. | PHOTO: Courtesy |

Prior to this match, Leicester had won just one of their seven Europa League matches before this one drawing three and losing three and were winless in four drawing two and losing two, failing to score in three of their last four matches in the competition.

However, despite a shaky start, the Daka-inspired Leicester rallied to fight back from two goals behind and claim a much-needed win that takes them back into contention for qualification from the group, which also contains Legia Warsaw and Napoli, on Thursday.

On a staggering individual night, four-goal hero Patson Daka becomes both the first Leicester player to score a hat-trick in a European competition and the first Zambian player to do so for any club in a major European competition (excluding qualifiers).

The 23-year-old striker scored all four of his shots on target and also created one chance as he single-handedly dragged the Foxes to victory.

The defeat to Leicester means Spartak have now lost four successive home matches in all European competitions for the first time.

Despite beating Napoli 3-2 last time out, if the Serie A side beat Legia Warsaw, Spartak could find themselves bottom of the group, having been second before this defeat.

Both teams will be in their respective league’s action over the weekend. Leicester visits Brentford in the Premier League on Sunday, with Spartak traveling to face Zenit later the same day.