Leicester hit back at Roma to take shine off José Mourinho’s return to England
As first taste of European semi-finals go, this barnstorming match will surely have whet the appetite of Leicester. Ademola Lookman bundled in a second-half equaliser via Gianluca Mancini to cancel out Roma’s early opener and ensure a grandstand finish in the second leg of this Europa Conference League contest at the enormous Stadio Olimpico next Thursday, leaving José Mourinho frustrated on his return to England. The Portuguese had reeled off eight of Leicester’s attacking threats in the buildup to this game and his stubborn side eventually wilted.
Brendan Rodgers had eulogised about Mourinho’s influence on his career during their three years together at Chelsea and, after taking the opportunity to catch up, the Leicester manager handed his opposite number a bottle of red. “He got me the best Portuguese bottle of wine,” Mourinho said. “He’s crying because it’s really expensive, but he wanted to give me my favourite bottle of Portuguese wine. It is really hard to find. I don’t know how he found it, but I know how he paid.”
The tie is finely poised but it was the kind of evening when both managers were able to smile. Mourinho is adamant Roma’s home advantage for the “final date” will help to propel them to the final and Rodgers was effusive in his praise of his youthful team’s performance, with James Maddison, Wesley Fofana and Lookman lively on Jamie
Vardy’s return to the starting lineup. “The winner of the Roma final has to win the Albanian final,” Mourinho said, referring to the competition’s final next month in Tirana. “For us it makes a difference to play at home with 70,000 [fans].”
For all Leicester’s early promise, Roma ruthlessly punished them with their first clean sight of goal on 15 minutes. The bubbly wing-back Nicola Zalewski surged upfield on a meandering run and after driving inside he spied the run of his captain, Lorenzo Pellegrini, who rattled a shot through the legs of the Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel.
In the dugout Mourinho, silver hair, grey long coat, was unmoved, steadfastly jotting down a note or two. It was not always the way, however, and the former Tottenham manager was soon crouching on the touchline, contorting himself as he cajoled his players into shape or skipping out of his technical area to deliver instructions.
Vardy and Timothy Castagne, who departed after 21 minutes with a head injury, fashioned early chances but Tammy Abraham, one of two Englishmen in the Roma starting lineup along with Chris Smalling, freed Nicolò Zaniolo before Fofana intervened.
Mourinho’s 25 titles (25 and a half, if you ask him, given he was sacked six days before Tottenham reached the Carabao Cup final last year) were
crammed into the honours list in the match-day programme and how Leicester, who sent PSV packing in the previous round, crave more of these nights.
Fofana occasionally took matters into his own hands, gracefully flowing forward from centre-back, and Smalling made a superb sliding block to prevent Lookman getting a clear shot at goal after he was threaded through by Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall.
Vardy lasted an hour on his return before being replaced by Kelechi Iheanacho but another substitute, Harvey Barnes, was the catalyst for Leicester’s leveller. Chances had been at a premium but Barnes poured forward into a dangerous position at the byline after the Roma centre-back Roger Ibañez, trying to shield the ball from Iheanacho, inadvertently played a one-two with the Leicester winger. Barnes sent a cross into the six-yard box and Lookman was there to help it in with some help from Mancini. This stadium was now rocking but Rodgers was a picture of calm, sipping a bottle of water.
Iheanacho forced the former Wolves goalkeeper Rui Patrício to tip round a post and Schmeichel made an acrobatic stop to deny Sérgio Oliveira at the other end a couple of minutes later. Maddison’s cross then took a wicked deflection and a pulsating tie will resume next week.
“I said to the players afterwards: ‘Look at the performance level,’” Rodgers said. “We had no fear; we can go to Rome and play to that level. We’re in with a fantastic chance to get to the final.”