KELECHI IHEANACHO booked Leicester City’s place against Chelsea in the FA Cup final at Wembley on May 15.
Kel surprise!
If anyone was going to break this ‘stalest’ of stalemates it was Brendan Rodgers’ in-form Fox-in-the-box who rifled home his 14th goal in 19 FA Cup appearances to set up a battle of the Blues in next month’s final.
No player has scored more goals in this competition or been more up for the FA Cup than the 24-year-old Nigerian over the past five-and-a-half seasons.
Thankfully, Iheanacho gave this low-key semi-final the nudge it needed just as the 4,000 invited fans inside Wembley were in danger of dozing off.
Once again Iheanacho had Leicester legend Jamie Vardy to thank for setting up his 55th minute winner.
The fleet-footed 34-year-old showed Jan Bednarek a clean pair of heels before laying a low cross into his partner’s path.
Iheanacho’s initial attempt was heading wide but bounced off Jannik Vestergaard and at the second time of asking the £25million hitman made no mistake as he rifled the rebound beyond Fraser Forster.
It was enough to end the Foxes’ 52-year-wait since their last FA Cup final appearance in 1969.
And it raised hopes that Rodgers’ class of 2021 could lift the famous trophy for the first time in their 137 year history – at the fifth attempt!
However both clubs better pray there were no agents from the proposed breakaway European Super League scouting for potential candidates to join them in the future.
Because neither side managed to bring their A-game to Wembley, although few would argue Leicester were not well worth their win.
Kasper Schmeichel never had a save of note to make and Saints best effort – make that their only real effort – came in the 64th minute when Ibrahima Diallo flashed a vicious volley inches wide from the edge of the box.
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However Leicester more than matched that when James Maddison came off the bench and immediately came close with a couple of similar attempts.
Even when Saints sent Fraser Forster up to join the attack in stoppage time, the usually reliable James Ward-Prowse delivered the ball straight into the waiting arms of Kasper Schmeichel.
That summed up Saints’ miserable day as their nerves appeared shredded by the size of the prize on offer and they failed to manage a single shot on target.
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Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
