Fofana blow
City vs Villareal
LEICESTER CITY 3 Soyuncu (40), Barnes (42), Perez (50)
VILLAREAL 2 Nino (76), Millan (83)
Attendance: 17,371
LEICESTER City’s first pre-season win was overshadowed by a sickening injury to centre-back Wesley Fofana.
City produced an excellent performance to race into a three-goal lead but were left deflated by the final whistle after Fofana was stretchered off on the hour, the defender staring at a long lay-off.
Caglar Soyuncu’s bullet header and Harvey Barnes’ breakaway finish had City two to the good at the break, while Ayoze Perez added a third just after the interval.
But as fit and firing City looked to add more, Fernando Nino’s terrible tackle on Fofana sent the 20-yearold sprawling across the turf in pain.
Nino then scored, along with Alejandro Millan, as Villarreal responded with two goals late on, but by then the events of the match seemed not to matter.
The 17,371 fans back in the King Power Stadium will have arrived not only hoping to see City’s first win of pre-season, but also their first glimpse of big-money arrivals Patson Daka and Boubakary Soumare on home turf.
But neither made the starting lineup, Soumare dropping out in one of two changes from the team that began Saturday’s 3-3 draw at QPR.
James Maddison came back in after missing the six-goal thriller to attend the birth of his son, while Kasper Schmeichel, only a few weeks since he reached the Euro 2020 semi-finals with Denmark, was back in goal in place of Eldin Jakupovic.
As reigning Europa League champions, Villarreal are by far the toughest side City have faced so far this summer.
The visitors nearly took an early lead when Fernando Nino found a gap between the defenders to meet a cross, but steered his header a few yards wide.
Without Daka and Soumare on the pitch, eyes were perhaps on Maddison amid Arsenal’s interest in the attacking midfielder and the growing speculation around his future.
He did not seem affected by the sleepless nights of a new dad, and his quick feet helped City win plenty of free-kicks in dangerous areas.
It was from a set piece that City’s first chance, and eventually their first goal, came.
First, Ryan Bertrand’s ball caused problems, Sergio Asenjo coming to punch only up into the air, and the ball dropping for Perez to head goalwards.
But the defenders had spotted the danger and got back to the line to clear.
Then, with five minutes to play in the half, another terrific Bertrand delivery begged a finish, and Soyuncu obliged, the Turk thumping a header into the net.
From the restart, Villarreal won a free-kick.
But from there, City countered and scored their second.
Maddison danced around the challenges and found Bertrand, who quickly played a ball forward.
With Villarreal unsettled, Barnes was left open, and was able to use his pace to sprint clear, maintaining his composure to finish from the edge of the box.
At the break, City introduced Daka and Soumare, with Danny Ward and Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall also on.
After his goal against QPR, Daka was in the mood, twice going close within a few minutes with first-time shots, Asenjo forced to parry the second away after it was deflected up. City were rampant and the third quickly came.
Dewsbury-Hall robbed his man, played a swift one-two with Daka and then rounded Asenjo. He tried to cut it back to the Zambian, who couldn’t stretch enough, but Perez was there at the back post to finish anyway.
But all that quality play and three fine goals were overshadowed by what came next.
As Fofana carried the ball out from the back on the hour, Nino tried a scissor tackle from behind.
While a foul wasn’t given, it was clear Fofana was in serious pain, the Frenchman immediately signalling to the bench.
Replays appeared to show a break or dislocation to the centre-back’s ankle.
After five minutes of treatment by paramedics and physios, Fofana was put on to a stretcher and wheeled off to applause from the crowd.
But the City players were distraught and from there, the game felt inconsequential.
City changed the rest of their team around and while there were still good moments, Kelechi Iheanacho going close with a header, the substitutions, and perhaps Fofana’s injury, upset their rhythm, allowing Villarreal to get two late goals.
First, Nino, 15 minutes after his tackle on Fofana, broke the lines and finished under Ward and a nice reverse pass by substitute Ruben Pena.
Then, with time ticking on, a napping City defence were caught out by a quick free-kick, Ward choosing to charge out and try to win the 50-50 rather than face a one-on-one. He did get there, but the ball fell kindly for another replacement, Alejandro Millan, to roll the ball into an empty net from 30 yards.
City were able to see out the win, and while it was met with cheers initially, they quickly turned to boos as the crowd understood that one of the team’s star players had potentially had their season ended by a reckless challenge in a friendly.