THE Reina from Spain let three points slip down the drain, as Jamie Vardy and Harvey Barnes scored two apiece to pile more misery on Aston Villa.
How Dean Smith must pray he didn’t witness his side’s Premier League survival hopes disappear down the gurgler at the same time!
Reina took a gamble – and it didn’t pay off as Leicester scoredCredit: PA:Empics Sport
Reina looked distraught after his howler gave Leicester the leadCredit: Reuters
When Smith sent an SOS to Pepe Reina in January to swap AC Milan and the San Siro – to replace the injured Tom Heaton – and spearhead Aston Villa’s survival push it seemed like a no-brainer.
The 37-year-old has provided one of the safest pair of hands in world football for more years than even he cares to remember.
Six major domestic honours, including an FA Cup and League Cup triumph from his time at Liverpool, Napoli and Bayern Munich – successive Premier League Golden Glove awards.
Oh, you can chuck in one World Cup and one European Championship winners’ medals, for good measure!
But we all know goalies are bonkers, because for all their hard work, one howler is all it takes for all the good stuff to go out of the window.
Last night Reina pulled off a couple of wonder saves and kept third-placed Leicester at bay whenever his defence went AWOL.
But there was no hiding place for him five minutes from half-time when his catastrophic blunder handed the Foxes their crucial opening goal and three welcome points.
And things went from bad to worse for relegation candidates Villa after the break when Tyrone Mings tried to show his ‘keeper how it should be done.
His full-length dive and ‘handball,’ in the box to cut out Harvey Barnes cross sealed his side’s fate when ref Michael Oliver pointed to the spot and awarded the home side a penalty.
Mings argued he had used his shoulder to divert Barnes’ delivery away from Jamie Vardy as the striker prepared to pounce.
It was a borderline call but when you are down where Villa are right now you don’t expect to get the breaks and VAR official Paul Tierney sided with OIiver’s view to confirm it was indeed a penalty.
Vardy had only been on the pitch for four minutes when he stepped up to send Reina the wrong way – thus ending his 645 minute Premier League goal drought to seal Villa’s fate.
Reina couldn’t be blamed for that one. But by then the damage had been done by a blunder which will haunt him into his retirement.
Villa were five minutes from half-time when the Spaniard had a brainstorm in a rain-storm.
Marvelous Nakamba failed to nail Dennis Praet’s headed clearance and Kelechi Iheanacho stole possession back for Leicester.
He fed Villa fan Marc Albrighton who dinked a delightful ball over the top of Villa’s spread-eagled defence.
Reina decided to go for broke but ended up bust when Harvey Barnes beat him in the chase to round the keeper 30 yards from his goalline.
As Targett, Mings and Guilbert frantically tried to get back Barnes calmly drilled the ball into a gaping net.
Oh Pepe, how could you!
To cap a miserable night for Villa, Vardy then added to his earlier penalty success to grab his second goal, with his FOURTH touch of the ball as the visitors imploded at the end.
Leicester celebrated their all-important opener, with Villa devastatedCredit: EPA
Jamie Vardy scored twice off the bench in the rout of VillaCredit: PA:Press Association
Evans slid in to win a tackle at the edge of his own box and the ball was fed to box Barnes who hared away to feed Vardy.
The striker cut inside to rifle a shot off Guilbert, then slammed home the rebound at the near post to leave Reina beaten again.
The poor vetran Spaniard was picking the ball out of his net again five minutes from the end as Barnes also nabbed a brace.
Sub Youri Tielemans fed Albrighton on the right and he picked out Barnes who smashed his shot beyond Reina from 10 yards to complete the rout.
Smith now faces a rampant Chelsea at Villa Park on Saturday night.
It doesn’t rain but it pours for the Villa boss right now!
But there must be a fair chance his Wembley cup final keeper Orjan Nyland might be between the sticks then.
All credit to Leicester who had failed to win any of their last four Premier League games to open the door for Chelsea and Manchester United.
Both mega-clubs did their bit to crank up the pressure on the Foxes by winning on Sunday.
With two massive rivals breathing down their necks, Brendan Rodgers’ men desperately needed this morale-boosting win to restore confidence and give themselves some much-needed wriggle-room again.
Leicester took another step towards a Champions League spotCredit: Reuters
They are now five points clear of fourth placed Chelsea and eight ahead of Manchester United.
It may not have been the beautiful game but few who witnessed the thrills and spills of two fierce rivals going at it hammer and tongs – cock-ups and all – could complain about the entertainment value.
Villa were left to rue Conor Hourihane suffering from football’s version of the ‘putting yips,’ when he took a fresh air swipe at Matt Targett’s low cross into the six yard box to let Leicester off the hook in Villa’s first attack.
And Mbwana Ally Samatta couldn’t repeat his Wembley heroics as he slid in to slice a right foot shot off his own left shin with Kasper Schmeichel stranded and exposed.
It was a rare scare for the Dane making his 200th Premier appearance – he was rarely seen after that.
How Pepe must wish he could say the same!
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
