Barnes and Perez on target, but it’s honours even in Europa nail-biter
GOOD WORK UNDONE BY TWO LATE NAPOLI GOALS
LEICESTER City gave up a twogoal lead to draw an actionpacked encounter with Napoli in their Europa League opener.
City thundered into an early lead through Ayoze Perez at a raucous King Power Stadium, the home fans attending their first European game in over four years.
And it looked like they would be celebrating a victory when Harvey Barnes doubled City’s lead midway through the second half.
But Napoli got the point their play and chances deserved as man of the match Victor Osimhen scored twice in the final 25 minutes, including a header with just minutes to spare.
City finished the match with 10 men as Wilfred Ndidi was sent off for a second bookable offence.
A defeat would have been harsh on Napoli, who had arrived in Leicester with a perfect record in Serie A this season, the Italian side on top for much of the first half in spite of Perez volleying in the opener.
City improved at the start of the second period, Patson Daka seeing a goal ruled out for offside before Barnes got his first of the season, but the chances eventually told for Napoli, and the two competition favourites had to settle for a point apiece.
In the build-up to the game, Rodgers had spoken about the deeper squad he had available to him this season, and he decided to use it, making five changes.
Among them, Patson Daka and Boubakary Soumare made their first starts for the club since arriving for a combined £40m over the summer. Jonny Evans and Kelechi Iheanacho were also brought in for their first starts of the campaign, while the regulars like Jamie Vardy, James Maddison, and Youri Tielemans were left out, the latter not in the City starting line-up for the first time in 2021.
The fifth and final new face was Perez, and he was heavily involved in a frantic first 10 minutes.
First, a lazy pass from the Spaniard gave Victor Osimhen the chance to shoot from 20 yards, Kasper Schmeichel getting his body behind the ball before Jannik Vestergaard hacked clear.
Moments later, he burrowed through the Napoli defence to get into the box, poking the ball to Daka, who prodded to Harvey
Barnes, the winger only denied by an alert David Ospina flying off his line.
But City were not to be denied with their second big chance. In a fast, flowing move, Barnes and Daka played a one-two, allowing the England international to stand up a cross to the back post on the run. Arriving unmarked was Perez, and he connected cleanly with the volley to fire through Ospina, the Colombian goalkeeper unable to keep the ball out.
It was the Spaniard’s first goal since March and after a spell in which he has been criticised, there was a real feeling of relief in his celebration, the forward putting his fingers in his ears as usual.
The goal led to a period of calm, where Napoli settled and City took their foot of the gas, but this would eventually give way to a 20-minute period of heavy pressure from the visitors, who really should have been level at the break.
The first chance fell to Kevin Malcuit racing into the box at the back post and firing over, with Lorenzo Insigne bending a shot wide moments later.
Then came the big chances. Osimhen’s pace was causing issues for Evans and Vestergaard and the Nigerian skipped away
from the latter to get to the byline, crossing for Piotr Zielinski six yards out. Thankfully for City, Timothy Castagne had kept pace with the Pole and was able to dive in and block his shot, which was then kept out of the net with the help of Schmeichel’s toe. From the corner, Insigne whistled a shot just wide.
The pressure was getting to City, who’s defending became messy. They wasted multiple chances to clear their lines and the ball fell to Osimhen to strike over from 15 yards.
On the stroke of half-time, no City defender tracked Hirving Lozano’s run and he was able to bullet a header goalwards from eight yards, but Schmeichel’s quick reflexes saw the Dane parry away and City make it to the break with their lead still intact.
Rodgers made two changes at the interval, bringing on Tielemans and Caglar Soyuncu, but the momentum was still Napoli’s. But while City gave away a lot of fouls, they did stem the flow of chances.
And all of a sudden, they hit Napoli on the break and scored against the run of play, or so they thought.
Tielemans received the ball on the edge of the area and played a neat pass through to Daka, who struck low enough and hard enough that
Ospina couldn’t adjust quickly enough to keep out the shot. The Zambian ran to the corner to celebrate what he thought was a goal on his home debut.
It took until the two teams were lined up again for kick-off for the officials to realise there was something wrong, and the goal was eventually ruled out for offside, Daka straying beyond the last man.
But City did not have to rue their misfortune for long. Iheanacho pickpocketed his marker and surged forward, threading a ball through the defence to Barnes.
He slowed, then sped up, throwing in a stepover, darting left and finishing
into the bottom corner with his weaker foot.
City’s two-goal lasted for just five minutes, however. And it was an excellent goal that saw the Italian side come back into the game. Four quick passes on the edge of the box saw Napoli unlock City with the ball dinked over to Osimhen. Again he got the better of Vestergaard, then prodded the bouncing ball over the advancing Schmeichel.
City had 20 minutes to defend their one-goal advantage, and they couldn’t manage it.
It looked like City would see the game out, closing ranks to limit the number of late chances Napoli had, but Osimhen was such a handful that the visitors could never be counted out. And indeed it was the striker that came up with the equaliser. A cross was clipped in from the left and leapt brilliantly to get above Soyuncu, directing a header beyond Schmeichel.
Amir Rrahmani then headed over as Napoli pushed for a comeback win, but City held out for the point, even in spite of Ndidi seeing red late on.
The Nigerian midfielder tugged on the shirt of his man to get a second yellow card, and will now be suspended for the trip to Legia Warsaw in a fortnight’s time.