Foxes are in quarters
Leicester hit double, sail past Sevilla in Champs League
Kasper Schmeichel pulled off a dramatic late penalty save as Leicester City sank Sevilla 2-0 on Tuesday to reach the Champions League quarterfinals for the first time.
Trailing by 1-2 from the first leg matc, after which Claudio Ranieri was sacked from the post of manager, Leicester scored through Wes Morgan and Marc Albrighton before Schmeichel repelled Steven N’Zonzi’s spotkick.
It gave them a 3-2 aggregate win and continued a remarkable turnaround under their new manager Craig Shakespeare, who has brought positive results for his team and has won three games in a row since stepping up from his role as Ranieri’s assistant.
“The players can be immensely proud of themselves,” said Shakespeare.
“When we needed Kasper the most, he came up trumps. We deserve to be there. We have just knocked out one of the best teams in Europe in my opinion.” he added. Unrecognisable in the defence of their miraculous Premier League title, Leicester have found solace in the Champions League and have now won all four of their home matches in the competition.
They also chose a good time to rediscover a bit of defensive solidity, and good fortune, having previously gone 12 matches without keeping a clean sheet in all competitions.
Sevilla, winners of the last three Europa Leagues, saw Samir Nasri sent off late on after he was shown an extraordinary second yellow card for aiming a headbutt at Jamie Vardy.
N’Zonzi might yet have taken the game to extra time after Schmeichel was penalised for catching Vitolo after the forward had dinked a shot past him.
But the Dane redeemed himself with a save low to his left, thwarting Sevilla’s hopes of reaching the last 8 for the first time since 1958. —