Pile the pressure on Ranieri

wards, but they were also indebted to their goalkeeper, Jordan Archer, for keeping the Premier League side at bay.

Archer twice denied Shinji Okazaki, with one close-range stop, deep into the second half, as vital as it was spectacular.

“He showed his quality today,” Harris said of the 23-year-old. “When we needed him to stand firm, when we needed him to come up with big moments, he did for us.

“The difference between Okazaki and Shaun Cummings was that Cummings was clinical, [but] Jordan kept us in the game, definitely.”

For Ranieri, this was the latest setback in a dark, disappointing season. Dumped out of the Cup by a side two divisions below them, and locked in an increasingly nervy relegation battle, the Premier League champions will need to pick themselves up quickly ahead of their midweek trip to Sevilla in the first leg of their Champions League last16 tie.

“They caught us at a bad time today,” said Harris. “They caught us at a time when we are really good. I feel for him [Ranieri], he is a legend in the game, a top guy and I love watching his teams play. He has got a great group of players and they will be fine this year.”

Others will not be so sure. Leicester have not won in the league this year, and have shown few signs that they are capable of turning that form around. They currently sit in 17th place, just one point above the drop zone, in which they could find themselves by the time they take on Liverpool next Monday.

Although Saturday’s line-up was packed full of backups, not one member of the side showed anything to suggest they can hold their own against Sevilla, who are fighting with Barcelona and Real Madrid for the Spanish title.

If being savaged by Millwall was not enough, it might be getting even worse this week.