Sevilla absolutely rousted Leicester for an hour, the goalkeeping of Kasper Schmeichel keeping the score respectable, before the introduction of Demarai Gray changed the flow of the game; he and Danny Drinkwater soon crafted an excellent away goal for Jamie Vardy. The two teams will now reconvene at the KP with the tie in the balance.
In the early stages, it was difficult to discern what Leicester’s plan was – or whether they even had one – as Steven N’Zonzi and Samir Nasri dominated midfield while Mariano sped up and down the right side. As such, it was no great surprise when Wes Morgan conceded a penalty in the 13th minute, clumsily fouling Joaquin Correa for no real reason; Correa himself stepped up to take the kick, but nudges it far too close to Schmeichel, who saved easily.
But 12 minutes later Sevilla were ahead, the outstanding Sarabia slamming home a header after Escudero’s superb cross. And their dominance continued , though it took until the 62nd minute for them to score again, Stevan Jovetic doing superbly to tee-up Correa, who finished with alacrity.
By then, though, Riyad Mahrez had moved to his favoured right-wing, and when Gray came on, Leicester hinted at the possibility that they might be capable of perhaps threatening. And then they scored!
Sevilla were not at all happy with this development, doing all they could to increase their lead as Leicester challenged them on the counter; with more composure, they might even have equalised on the night. But they could not, and chances are, Sevilla’s class will tell in the return. Either way, though, it’ll be a lot of fun finding out, and, in the meantime, Leicester might just have gathered the momentum necessary to keep them in the Premier League.
