Mahir Emreli's first-half strike edged Legia Warsaw to a 1-0 win over Leicester City in Thursday's Europa League clash.

Emreli drilled home what proved to be the winner at the Polish Army Stadium after 31 minutes, with the visitors having struggled to settle defensively in the opening stages of the game.

Ayoze Perez, who spurned the best first-half chance to equalise, saw his close-range finish ruled out after the interval and Jannik Vestergaard almost scored, but Brendan Rodgers' side failed to find an equaliser.

Leicester now have just one point after their opening two games, while Legia sit at the summit after back-to-back wins in Group C.

Andre Martins curled the first chance of the contest into Kasper Schmeichel's hands following timid defending from Caglar Soyuncu, the centre-back then allowing Bartosz Slisz to sneak in and tee up Emreli, who wastefully blasted over from close range.

However, the forward made no mistake with his next opportunity. Having outmuscled Daniel Amartey, Emreli fired in a left-footed strike across Schmeichel, the ball going in off the far post.

Having dragged a glorious chance wide before the break, Perez thought he had equalised in the second half as he flicked home from Youri Tielemans' corner, only for Amartey to be adjudged to have fouled Ihor Kharatin in the build-up.

Patson Daka's header then forced Cezary Miszta into a smart save before Vestergaard inexplicably managed to head into the Legia goalkeeper's midriff from point-blank range.

Leicester persisted in search of a late leveller, with Daka hesitating in front of goal as he struggled to sort his feet.

Substitute James Maddison offered a late scare as he saw a miscued left-footed strike cleared off the line by Mateusz Wieteska, but Legia managed to cling on to claim all three points.