Jamie Vardy had a quiet day before he played a major role in Leicester’s late equalizer.
Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers said his team showed the personality of a big club by coming twice from behind to take a point against Manchester United.
Axel Tuanzebe regained the lead in the 85th minute. In the 11th minute, a shot from Jamie Vardy, who had a quiet day, went into his own net to prevent the visitors from claiming their 11th consecutive victory in the Premier League.
Bruno Fernandez gave United the lead with just over 10 minutes to go when he replaced Edinson Cavani and fired past Kasper Schmeichel.
Marcus Rashford opened the scoring when he took advantage of a pass from Fernandez to score his 50th goal of the season. First division goal for Harvey Barnes equalized from a first half free kick.
The Foxes remain in second place and Rodgers says the resilience of his team shows they can compete at the highest level.
We showed a lot of potential last year, but with more training time and more confidence in the players we can improve it, said Rodgers, whose team has already beaten Manchester City, Tottenham and Arsenal this season.
When you play against big clubs, Liverpool, Manchester United, Manchester City, they have that personality, but we played with personality and authority in the game.
In terms of budget we got nothing, but in terms of football we were competitive.
The result in the King Power Stadium ended Chelsea’s series of 10 victories in the championship, one of the records Chelsea set in 2008.
We’ve caused them a lot of trouble and if you look at it, we’ve been very credible in this game, Rodgers added.
It was the least we deserved. We have shown real quality and proven that we can play at the level of a team that has won all its away games.
Both teams maintained their positions in the table for Saturday’s other games, with Leicester three points behind leaders Liverpool and one point behind third-placing United.
Boxing day even honour
Boxing Day is known for its turkey sandwiches and first-rate football, and the opening match of the festive program was a treat.
Both leaders acknowledged the opposition’s attack before the match, and it wasn’t long before the first opportunity arose.
Rashford should have led United’s Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in the second minute when Fernandes headed the ball on the other side of the post, but the unidentified English striker crossed the bar in vain.
A minute later the Foxes flew over the other flank and sent the impressive James Justin a precise cross to Vardy, but Victor Lindelof was able to keep the danger at bay.
This theme continued in the rest of the competition, because the teams that started on the second and third day of the classification ended up deviating from each other.
Rodgers’ hosts possessed a little more, but United, who have the best road record in the league, managed to score another.
Half a century later for Rashford
Man Utd manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer praised Marcus Rashford after scoring a PL goal in the 50th minute.
Rashford set a good example this year. He successfully lobbied the government to extend free school meals during the coronavirus pandemic and won a special sports personality award.
The 23-year-old was also excellent on the field, becoming the third United youth to score 50 goals in the Premier League after Wayne Rooney and Cristiano Ronaldo. However, he will undoubtedly be disappointed that he left Leicester without a match.
He recovered well from a bad start, picked up Fernandes’ pass and passed it on to Schmeichel.
However, the Foxes goalkeeper managed to win the next game and made a brilliant save when Rashford was released.
Fernandes alone has scored more goals this season than Rashford’s six, but the American graduate needs to become more clinical to make the biggest impact on Old Trafford and match the success of Rooney and Ronaldo.
Close, but not close enough, is indicated.
Rodgers, Leicester City Manager, talking to Sport: We’ve shown the mentality to come back. I thought some of our offensive games were very good. You play against a team that attacks so fast, but I had the impression that we pressed the counter-attack very well.
Today was another sign of improvement for us. If you can’t win it, you have to make sure you don’t lose it, so I like the mentality.
Rodgers loves the Leicester mentality.
About Vardy: I thought it was excellent today. The space it creates through its movement and its course. I’m excited for the team, I’m excited for Jamie, and it was a good football game.
Manchester United boss Solskjaer talking to Sports Club : What do you think we’re gonna score with ten more minutes? Keep your eyes on the ball and watch the game. But it wasn’t. We came back from so many defeats to win, so we know the feeling on the other side.
Marcus Rashford is still alive. He’s still out there, or about, with his head screwed. He’s done well and he knows he’s had a few more chances, but it’s football.
Victor Lindelof has back problems, and it looks like he’s made them worse tonight. We started early today and that gives us a few more hours to prepare for the next race.
We knew today would be difficult. He was close to victory, but not close enough.
United and happy on the move – Statistics
- Manchester United is undefeated in their last 14 away games, with 11 victories. This is the longest series of this type since January 2011 (16 races).
- Leicester City admitted 191 goals against Manchester United – only against Arsenal (206) they admitted more.
- United are the first team to score two or more goals in 11 consecutive away games since they did so themselves in March 1959 (13 games).
- Leicester boss Rodgers failed to win ten of his 12 Premier League games as manager against United, losing nine.
- Manchester United striker Cavani has scored five goals this season as a replacement in the league (three goals and two assists), two more than any other player.
- Barnes Leicester City scored seven goals in 20 games during the 2020-21 season, after scoring as many goals as possible in 42 games last season.
What’s the next step?
Leicester travels to Crystal Palace on Monday (15:00 GMT) and takes on Manchester United Wolves the next night (20:00).
The player of the game
Barnes-Garvey Barnes.
Leicester City
- Team number 15Player nameBarnes
- Name of the player on team number 9Wardy
- Team number 1Player nameShmeichel
- Team number8Player nameTielemans
- Team number25Player nameNdidi
- Team number 10 Player name Maddison
- Team number2 Player name Justina
- Team number3Player nameFofana
- Team number6 Player name Evans
- Team number27Player nameCastagonia
- Team number17 Player nameAyoze Perez
- Squadron number11Player’s name Albrighton
Lines
Leicester
- 1 apartment building
- 2 Justine
- 3-Fofana
- 6Evans
- 27Brown
- 25NdidiBay in 89Minutes
- 8Tielemans
- 11AlbrightonReplacement for Perezat 81 minutes
- 10MaddisonReserved for 54Minutes
- 15 barns
- 9Verse.
Replaces
- Station 12
- 14Icanacho
- 17Perez.
- 18Amartey
- 20Chudhuri
- 24 Mendy
- 26Pleasure
- 28 Fuki
- 33Tomas
Human LLC
- 1st Gea
- 2LindelöfReplaced by Tuanzebeat 66’minutes
- 3Bailly
- 5Maguire.
- 23Display
- 39McTominay
- 17Fred
- 21JamesReplacement forPogbabei 54’minutes
- 18Bruno FernandesReserved 45 minutes away
- 10Rashford
- 9MartialSubstitution of Kavaniat 75’min
Replaces
- 6Pogba
- 7Kavanee
- 11Green tree
- 14Lingard
- 26Henderson.
- 27Count
- 31Matic
- 34 Van de Beek
- 38 Tuanzebe
Real-time text
- End of the game, Leicester City 2, Manchester United 2.
- End of the second half, Leicester City 2, Manchester United 2.
- Offside, Manchester United. Axel Tuanzebe plays a forward pass, but Marcus Rashford is sidelined by the referee.
- The attempt failed. Ayoze Perez (Leicester City) hits with a right foot from very close range and misses right after a set-piece situation.
- Attempt blocked. Youri Tielemans (Leicester City) rattles a counterclockwise shot that is blocked by the edge of the box.
- James Maddison (Leicester City) hits a free kick on the right wing.
- Fred (Manchester United) is punished after committing an offence.
- Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City) has been booked for an offense.
- James Justin (Leicester City) hits a free kick in the other half.
- Bruno Fernandez (Manchester United) is punished after committing an offence.
- Ayoze Perez (City of Leicester) is punished after committing an offence.
- Fred (Manchester United) gets a free kick in the opposite half.
- Axel Tuanzebe’s own goal, Manchester United. Leicester City 2, Manchester United 2.
- The attempt failed. Jamie Vardy (Leicester City) shoots with his right foot from the middle of the penalty area but misses on the left side. Prepared by Ayose Perez with a cross.
- Jonny Evans (Leicester City) gets a free kick in the opposite half.
- Bruno Fernandez (Manchester United) is punished after committing an offence.
- Corner, Leicester City. Prepared by Scott McTominy.
- Replacement : The city of Leicester. Ayose Perez is replacing Mark Albrighton.
- Wilfred Ndidi (Leicester City) hits a free kick on the right wing.
- Fred (Manchester United) is punished after committing an offence.
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