Gruelling festive fixture lists may not be good preparation for playing Champions League football in February but Tottenham were already out by ChristmasEnglish football may be about to plunge into one of its regular periods of introspection now that Leicester City are left as the only standard-bearers for the Premier League in the Champions League quarter-finals, though the rest of Europe will not find anything too surprising in this week’s developments. Related: Monaco’s Tiemoué Bakayoko condemns Manchester City to away-goal defeat Related: Arsène Wenger has been living on borrowed time at Arsenal for too long | Richard Williams Continue reading...
The Leicester goalkeeper’s penalty save from Steven Nzonzi was a high point in a career that has meandered to the top and suggested he is among the world’s bestThere was something a little eerie about Kasper Schmeichel’s penalty save towards the end of Leicester City’s uproarious Champions League defeat of Sevilla. Mainly it was the element of real-time deja vu about the whole thing. Not just because Schmeichel had also kept out a penalty from Joaquín Correa in Seville. This was a save that seemed oddly inevitable from the moment the kick was awarded, to be already happening even as Steven Nzonzi frowned and placed the ball on the spot, Schmeichel bobbing on his toes and doing that funny little...
Centre-forward Jamie Vardy did not score and missed an excellent chance but epitomised Leicester’s spirit, including goading Samir Nasri into a red cardTowards the end of a relentless, slightly hysterical night at the King Power Stadium Jamie Vardy could be seen punching himself repeatedly in the face. It seemed in the moment absolutely fine; all things considered entirely the right thing to do. He had just scampered 40 yards in pursuit of Riyad Mahrez before whumping his cutback miles over the bar with the goal gaping.Leicester were leading 2-0 at the time. A cool finish would have killed the tie. This was instead a crazed, dementedly adrenal finish. But still the only kind of finish Vardy was ever likely to...
Before Jamie Vardy’s first-leg goal they seemed down and out but Craig Shakespeare’s side now look equipped to give their opponents a proper gameOn the face of it not much has changed. In fact the Leicester team who start against Sevilla at home will probably show only one difference from the XI who lined up in Spain, with Shinji Okazaki picked ahead of Ahmed Musa. There is, however, a new manager in the home dugout and Leicester have been transformed as a result. Whether that is down to the players wanting to prove a point post‑Claudio Ranieri, or Shakespeare making one of his own with small but significant team and tactical alterations, is a matter of debate, but there is no doubt...
A crunch win at Betis means the question now being asked is if Sevilla could win a first league title since 1946. Why not?Ramón Rodríguez, ‘Monchi’, walked out the door and refused to look back. Sevilla’s sporting director left the Sánchez Pizjuán after their 2-1 victory over Leicester City on Wednesday night with “mixed emotions”, insisting as he went: “All I’m thinking about now is the derby.” Now? That was all most of them were thinking about already, even before the game – or so it felt. Witness the scene that same afternoon. In the hotel where the squad meets before matches, there were a little under four hours to kick-off on a potentially historic night: the chance to reach...