GIALLOROSSI’S OWN GOAL PUT FOXES BACK INTO THE GAME AS EUROPA LEAGUE SEMIFINAL FIRST LEG ENDS IN A STALEMATE.
The King Power Stadium was treated to a thrilling first-ever European semi-final as Leicester City earned a hard-fought draw in the first leg, knowing very well that they have all the chances in the world to upset Jose Mourinho’s Roma from winning their first-ever UEFA title in history. With the 1-1 draw, the ‘Giallorossi’ have now not tasted victory in England since 2001 – a streak of 14 winless matches.
An onslaught of relentless attacks got things rolling for the hosts, as they went painfully close to opening the scoring within five minutes from Timothy Castagne’s diving header that skimmed past the right post. However, a quickfire counterattack on the other end poised Nicola Zalewski to sublimely feed Lorenzo Pellegrini’s powerful finish from the left flank and put Roma in the driving seat just ten minutes later.
Despite having scored a 12th away goal in the Europa Conference League, the Italians couldn’t help but face a skulk of hungry ‘Foxes’, who held the ball with authority, denying the visitors a single chance to force keeper Kasper Schmeichel into a save. Seeking a seventh straight unbeaten European game at home this season, the Leicester faithful continued rallying their team in the hopes of an equaliser that never arrived as the HT whistle approached.
A host of substitutions by Brendan Rodgers after the hour mark changed the face of the game as Leicester finally equalised from their 11th attempt on goal, thanks to Ademola Lookman forcing Gianluca Mancini into tapping home an own-goal after some impressive team play by the home outfit.
The Special One was then forced to change his tactical outlook, but that made little difference as Leicester substitute Kelechi Iheanacho almost handed the hosts their second from a terrific edge-of-the-box shot that went wide of the left post. Minutes later, Schmeichel was called into action for the first time in the match from Sérgio Oliveira’s effort that was headed into the top corner, before the Danish shotstopper stood strong to keep scores level.
The ‘Giallorossi’s suppressed attacking display saw them fail to avoid a third straight winless match, a result they will hope does no harm going into the second leg next week. Leicester on the other hand, will muster inspiration from their performance and count their chances of going all the way to the finals.
