Sevilla 2 Leicester 1: Jamie Vardy keeps Champions League hopes alive by grabbing vital away goal
Claudio Ranieri's side defeated by Pablo Sarabia and Joaquin Correa strikes, but remain firmly in the last-16 tie
JAMIE VARDY kept Leicester City’s Champions League hopes alive as he grabbed a vital away goal in their 2-1 defeat in Sevilla.
After surviving long spells off pressure, and falling behind to strikes from Pablo Sarabia and Joaquin Correa, the England striker claimed the precious strike with 18 minutes remaining.
The goal sets up a thrilling second-leg at the KingPower Stadium next month.
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As expected, the La Liga high-flyers started on top and had Claudio Ranieri’s men penned in for long spells as they dominated possession.
And after almost taking the lead courtesy of Christian Fuchs nearly heading into his own net, Sevilla were handed the perfect chance to break the deadlock just before quarter of an hour.
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Leicester captain Wes Morgan dived in on Correa inside the area to give away a penalty, but goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel came to the rescue as he saved the victim of the foul’s effort from the spot.
The Danish stopper was in fine form as he denied Sergio Escudero, but he was powerless to stop his side falling behind on 25 minutes as Sarabia rose above Christian Fuchs to powerfully head home at the back post.
Leicester just could not get hold of the ball, and Schmeichel was again on hand to deny Correa to keep the score to one at the break.
The Sevilla tides of attack continued after the restart, and the visitors had the woodwork to thank after Samir Nasri teed up Vitolo, but the Spanish winger’s shot came off the foot of the post after squeezing between Schmeichel and the frame.
They weren’t so lucky on 61 minutes though when the inevitable second arrived as Correa drove a fierce strike into the roof of the net.
But Vardy had the last say, racing onto Danny Drinkwater’s pass to finish and grab his first goal since December 10.
Stats, facts, goals and lols
- Sevilla fans don’t half love their team! The scenes as the players boarded their bus - for the 90 SECOND drive from their hotel to the stadium - were truly awe inspiring.
- Around 1,000 fans gathered to serenade their players who were greeted like rock stars as they clambered on board. Red smoke bombs, massive waving flags, flares, fireworks, the FRENCH national anthem … wow … just wow!
- Leicester pulled off a neat trick by turning up in CHELSEA colours as they tweaked their usual all blue kit by wearing white socks! Smart move from Claudio – trick Seville into thinking they were playing the Premier League’s runaway leaders.
- Unfortunately Ngolo Kante didn’t come with the new look! Seville flew out of the traps, as Sarabia rippled the roof of Kasper Schmeichel’s net, then Fuchs and Schmeichel gave each other the jitters with a mix up which almost saw the Austrian head into his own net.
10Kasper Schmeichel was by far Leicester City's best player with a string of fine savesCredit: Reuters - Sevilla seemed to be coping nicely without coach Jorge Sampaoli who was peering down from the soaring stands, serving the second match of his two match Uefa ban.
- The Argentine was sent off by Mark Clattenburg for dissent during his side’s 3-1 home defeat by Juventus in November – an extra match was added when he was caught passing on messages to the bench in his next match against Lyon.
- The 13th minute proved unlucky for Wes Morgan who was collared by ref Clement TURPIN (I kid you not) for tripping Joaquin Correa in the penalty area. That is what you call a bad Correa move for the big fella!
- Kasper Schmeichel has been Leicester’s best player in the Champions’ League by a long way and proves it by saving Correa’s penalty low to his right and holding it! The Dane has come to Leicester’s rescue again.
10Leicester's Nigerian midfielder Ahmed Musa (down) vies with Sevilla's French defender Clement LengletCredit: Getty Images - The 2,500 Foxes fans pitched high in the far corner of this atmospheric stadium lapped up the moment going crazy in their section – with another 7,000 ticket-less Leicester supporters doubtless doing likewise in Tapas Bars all around Seville.
- Leicester briefly sensed a wobble from Jorge Sampaoli’s side and Jamie Vardy ran at Sergio Escudero and Clement Lenglet for the first time before Wes Morgan flashed a header just wide to prove Claudio Ranieri’s men could get out of their own half.
- However Sevilla are real killjoys and soon spoiled the moment ….. by scoring! Even Kasper Schmeichel couldn’t save his mates this time as Pablo Sarabia soared above Christian Fuchs at the back post to power an inch-perfect header beyond the helpless keeper, in off the back stick.
- That was the first goal Schmeichel has lost in five Champions’ League games this season – he broke a bone in his hand and missed Leicester’s last two group games, just as he was on course to become the first goalie in Champions League history to go through six group games without conceding.
- Stevan Jovetic almost scored from Charlie Adam territory but Schmeichel manager to claw it over as the former Man City striker demanded MORE noise from Sevilla’s frenzied fans. On a scale of 1-10 that would be an 11 Stevan.
10Leicester City's Wes Morgan in action with Sevilla's Clement LengletCredit: Reuters - A police message at half time told one anxious Leicester fan he could collect his PASSPORT from the police desk at full-time. You have to hope the guy had packed spare underwear.
- You could say the same for Leicester’s defence after Joaquin Correa added Sevilla’s second – Sampaoli in the stand even allowed himself a rare smile. It looks as if he believed the hard part had been done.
- Jamie Vardy had other ideas though!
Big Picture
LEICESTER'S NEXT FIVE FIXTURES
Mon Feb 27 - Liverpool (H) - PL
Sat Mar 4 - Hull City (H) - PL
Tue Mar 14 - Sevilla (H) - CL
Sat Mar 18 - West Ham (A) - PL
Sat Apr 1 - Stoke (H) - PL
Dream Team Ratings
Sevilla: Rico, Ferreira Filho, Rami , Lenglet (Carrico Martins 55), Escudero, N’Zonzi , Nasri, Sarabia , Correa (Iborra 63), Vitolo , Jovetic
Subs not used: Kranevitter, Vietto, Ben Yedder, Soria Solis, Vazquez
Goals: Sarabia 25, Correa 62
Leicester: Schmeichel 8, Simpson 6, Morgan 5, Huth 6, Fuchs 5, Ndidi 6, Drinkwater 7, Musa 6 (Gray 58, 6), Mahrez 6, Albrighton 6 (Amartey 88, 5), Vardy 7
Subs not used: Chilwell, King, Okazaki, Zieler, Benalouane
Goal: Vardy 73
What they said
Leicester goalscorer Jamie Vardy told BT Sport: "Everyone has given 110% and everyone has come off absolutely blowing.
"We knew we had to be patient and take our chances but we knew we could hurt them on the press and that's what Danny (Drinkwater) did. He got it over to me and I slipped it in."
Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri: "We knew they are better than us, they have high quality in possession. We suffered. They showed their quality but we showed our heart. We showed belief and never game up. That makes me satisfied.
"At the end, if we are a little more calm on the counter-attack, we could have done more. It was very important to match them and every result is still open.
"Their quality is very high and when you make a mistake, the opposition scores goals.
"Kasper Schmeichel and everybody had a good game. Kasper saved the penalty and gave lot of support to his defenders.
"For us, it is important to continue to show our performance and our football."