Champions League Round Of 16 a few quick thoughts
Dan Tracey
February 23, 2017
2,150 Views
- Time has got away from me this week due to developments on the Real Football Man front
- You may have heard that I’m hosting a podcast, which you can listen to the debut edition of here
- That meant that unfortunately I did not get to watch the whole of Manchester City vs Monaco
- Of all the nights not to watch some Champions League action
- Well I guess they are the breaks when you become a host of a soon to be succesful podcast….
- I’ll touch on what I saw of that game later but the main focus has to be last night’s action between Sevilla and Leicester
- Although it’s another defeat for Claudio Ranieri’s men, there is not quite the doom and gloom surrounding them this time around
- That’s because Jamie Vardy’s late away goal sets the tie up very nicely for the return at the King Power
- It could have been a lot worse for Leicester had it not been for the fact that Kasper Schmeichel was particularly impressive for Leicester
- His first act of heroism was his penalty save from Joaquin Correa in the first half
- Wes Morgan’s reckless tackle on Correa himself gave the referee no other option to award the spot kick
- But the youngster did not look to confident when taking the kick
- I called at home (even though nobody was listening) that he would miss
- And that was exactly the case as his poor effort was well saved by Schmeichel
- A get out of jail free card for The Foxes
- But they were to go behind soon after as Sevilla’s early pressure was rewarded
- Ahmed Musa was sloppy in posession and the ball eventually found itself at the feet of Sergio Escudero
- He fizzed in a left footed cross with an incredible amount of pace
- Pablo Sarabia who was unmarked at the back post met the ball perfectly and powered it into the net to give the home side the lead
- Sevilla offered wave after wave of pressure in the first half and thanks to Schmeichel, Leicester managed to keep the score down to just 1-0
- But Sevilla would finally double their advantage just after the hour
- A straight ball into the box caught both Wes Morgan and Robert Huth and the ball landed at the feet of Stevan Jovetic
- With the defenders sucked in, he placed a perfect pass at the feet of Correa who then atoned for his early penalty miss by doubling Sevilla’ advantage
- Leicester were really on the ropes now and had to make sure they did not concede any more in an Arsenal like collapse of the week before
- At 2-0 down the tie was just about alive still but there was to be a twist in the tale with 17 minutes to go
- Danny Drinkwater drove into the box and placed a searching ball into the 6 yard box
- The ball was laid on a plate and after the scoring drought that Jamie Vardy has been in over the past few months this was one offer he was not going to refuse
- It was a poacher’s goal but the importance could be huge as it has given Leicester hope of reaching the Quarter Final stage of this competition
- It was a spirited end to the game for Leicester but they had Schmeichel to thank for keeping the score respectable
- There was still time for Adil Rami to graze the crossbar with a header but thankfully for Claudio Ranieri’s men the scoreline would stay at 2-1
- Still very much game on
- As for Manchester City vs Monaco, it would be somewhat unfair to try and give a full breakdown of the game as I’ve only seen goal clips
- But what a game and quite simply what a goal from Radamel Falcao
- His second of the night turned John Stones inside out before a beautiful chip into the net
- It seems as if El Tigre is once again going through something of a resurgence
- It’s a rare occasion when a team can score 3 away from home and still lose
- But this tie is also far from over
- Credit must go to this Monaco brimming with young talent, it almost takes the sting out of Tottenham’s two defeats to them in the group stages
- That performance on Tuesday night really was a measure of how good this side really are
- Gallant in defeat but they will fancy their chances of testing Pep Guardiola’s men in the return
- In other night Bayer Leverkusen vs Atletico Madrid would have grabbed the headlines after 6 goals were shared at the Bayer Arena
- But what with matters at The Etihad this one had to take second billing on Tuesday night
- Atletico Madrid may be stuttering at home in La Liga but there impressive European record continues and that win in Germany very much puts them in the box seat for a place in the Quarter Finals
- The same can be said for 2015 finalists Juventus after their 2-0 win over FC Porto last night
- Two away goals for the Turin based side will mean that Porto will have their work cut out and it’s going to take some overhaul to not see the Italian giants reach the last eight
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