Leicester vs Manchester United – FA Cup quarter-final: Live score, lineups and updates
Time was, this would have been Leicester’s cup final. Their match of the season. The big one. They probably would have lost it, too. Still, it would have been a great occasion for the fans, the place would have been buzzing and, what the hell, it’s Manchester United. No-one was seriously expecting Leicester to win.
They are better than that, these days. Better than United, possibly, too. League titles, European qualification, the Champions League, it’s all to play for – and maybe a real cup final, at Wembley, too. They are one match from that now, but must first play Southampton in the semi-final.
It was 1982 when Leicester last reached the FA Cup’s final four, in the days when Wembley was reserved for the showpiece, only. They lost 2-0 to Tottenham at Villa Park. Gary Lineker was the centre-forward. Garth Crooks scored Tottenham’s first.
Kelechi Iheanacho popped up at the back post in the closing stages to head home and seal Leicester’s place in the semi-finals
The striker was unmarked at the back post and held his focus to head the ball up into the roof of the netting
A surging run by Youri Tielemans allowed the Belgian time to pick out the bottom corner with a low effort to make it 2-1
Tielemans peered through the bodies to watch as his effort thundered past Henderson and into the bottom corner
The midfielder wheeled away to the corner flag and dropped to his knees in celebration after putting his back in front
Yet nostalgia is for the birds around these parts. The Foxes, meanwhile, are running amok. This broke a sequence of five straight FA Cup quarter-final defeats and Manchester United’s run of 29 domestic away games unbeaten.
How they got to such a landmark, heaven knows. A stretch like that, which goes back to a defeat at Anfield on January 19 last season, implies a supreme force, a seriously good team, maybe even a great one. United didn’t look as good as that. Even taking into account the trip to Milan last Thursday they appeared tired and sloppy and missing a spark.
They gifted Leicester the lead, were defensively poor for their two second-half goals and their forwards were second rate. Leicester consistently enjoyed the better chances and Jamie Vardy and the brilliant Kelechi Iheanacho looked considerably livelier than what United had to offer. Quicker and better on the hustle, too. As far as Leicester were concerned, they all were.
The whole game, in fact, made one question the United revival. It just seems so random. Outstanding one week, ineffectual the next.
Leicester team-mates soon mobbed the Belgian as their United counterparts stood around the pitch with an air of dejection
Iheanacho had opened the scoring for Leicester, with the in-form striker taking the ball around Henderson after a Fred error
The Nigerian latched onto Fred’s poor pass on the edge of United’s own box, as Leicester’s high press worked wonders again
Former Leicester man Harry Maguire tried to get back in time but was helpless in trying to stop Iheanacho’s slotted finish
Admittedly, Paul Pogba almost single-handedly took the game away from Milan, but where was the team effort that did for Manchester City earlier this month? United swerved between outright bad – the Leicester goals – and just not very good.
True, they got back into the game after conceding and there were moments of smart defensive work, but these were outweighed by lapses, laziness and looseness, not least in midfield where Fred in particular had an afternoon to forget.
It took a while for either side to get going but, when they did, Leicester forced a sustained 20 minute spell of pressure that saw them take the lead and stretch United to the limit. In the 17th minute, Vardy signalled his intention.
He had a cross cut out in the middle and responded with a low shot requiring Dean Henderson’s full attention. He has scored one goal since December 20 – a dismal run by his standards – but he caused constant problems for United here.
As did Iheanacho, who is in the form of his life for the club – seven goals in four games, including two yesterday. He last failed to score in February – every match this month has brought goals.
So the pressure was building and in the 24th minute, United cracked. Harry Maguire played a pass out from the back to Fred and from the moment it landed, United were in trouble. The night the new Wembley opened, Brazil were the visitors and Kaka amazed with his ability to receive the ball no matter the local attention.
Mason Greenwood equalised for the visitors, after Paul Pogba’s low cross and a clever dummy from Donny van der Beek
United struggled to break the blue wall in front of Kasper Schmeichel but Greenwood had the quality to finish when they did
Fred endured a nightmare first-half for United, routinely being caught in midfield as Leicester pressed and pounced in attack
Donny van der Beek’s dummy will be a pleasing sight for Solskjaer, with the midfielder still struggling to settle at United
He could have two, three players parked around him but still demanded the ball and, more often than not, was given it. From there he worked a way out. It was brilliant to watch. Fred, may be Brazilian, but it is fair to say he is no Kaka.
So given the ball with Iheanacho in attendance, he panicked and tried to lay it back to Henderson immediately. In his fluster, however, he underhit the pass and Ihenacho was onto it like a rat up a particularly enticing drainpipe.
He skipped round Henderson and finished into an empty net. It was probably far harder than he made it look, all quick feet and a dancer’s balance. What a lovely player he is, in this form.
Leicester could have had a second after 35 minutes too, had Aaron Wan-Bissaka not made a quite brilliant interception when Iheanacho played Vardy in from the edge of the area. Trent Alexander-Arnold is not the only right-back feeling neglected by Gareth Southgate right now. Wan-Bisska may soon choose to exercise his option with DR Congo.
Ayoze Perez had a shot from the edge of the area travel wide, and Leicester were very much on top. Maguire had been booked after being turned inside out on the counter by Iheanacho and Leicester were in the ascendancy. Somehow, they went in at half time level.
Jonny Evans welcomed his old club to the club he has been thriving at under Brendan Rogers, forming part of a solid back-line
United striker Anthony Martial looked isolated for large periods and was starved for service as Leicester held firm at the back
United’s chances had been few and far between. A couple of Maguire headers from set pieces, and a cross from Wan-Bissaka that pitched awkwardly and had to be tipped around by Kasper Schmeichel. Yet in the 38th minute, they equalised.
Alex Telles played a pass to Pogba on the left and his low cross was dummied by Donny Van De Beek, falling at the feet of Mason Greenwood who lashed it smartly into the net. It was one of Van De Beek’s most intelligent contributions of the season, without even touching the ball. This was another disappointing game from him.
In real terms, United held strong for all of 12 minutes. Once Youri Tielemans gave them a 2-1 lead shortly into the second-half, they struggled. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer used all five substitutions – the FA having kowtowed to elite interests in a way the Premier League did not – including four at once.
In the 64th minute, Bruno Fernandes, Edinson Cavani, Luke Shaw and Scott McTominay came on in one giant cavalry charge. Not that the infinity bench affords an advantage to the biggest, you understand.
Of course, none of it makes much difference if the defence is lax, and United’s were largely poor. For the second goal, Tielemans played a one-two with Iheanacho and took the direct route to goal, straight through United’s centre, shrugging off the lame attentions of Nemanja Matic and Fred before striking a low shot past Dean Henderson.
Iheanacho was making as many as he was scoring and in the 58th minute put Vardy away again, one on one with Henderson, but he pulled his shot wide. If Vardy’s in form, that’s game over.
Instead, Leicester had to wait until the 78th minute for the clincher. The evergreen Marc Albrighton whipped in a free-kick and Iheanacho snuck in behind McTominay to head in unmarked at the far post. Scored two, made one. Yet from United’s point of view, all those substitutions and no-one picked him up. How many do they need?
Scroll below to relive how all the action happened with Sportsmail’s IEUAN IVETT.
