Leicester City progressed to their first FA Cup Final since 1969 after beating Southampton 1-0 at Wembley, thanks to Kelechi Iheanacho’s second-half goal.
Iheanacho’s low left-footed strike on 55 minutes proved the difference between the two sides with Brendan Rodgers’ men now having the prospect of a Wembley final against Chelsea to look forward on May 15.
Brendan Rodgers’ ecstatic
‘That is what this game is about, creating a memory,’ said a delighted Rodgers post-match.
‘I have been made aware since I’ve been at Leicester how important this cup is for the supporters.
‘We have the chance to create history. When we arrived here, that was the ambition. From a football perspective we wanted to be able to compete and we have been able to do that. Now we have a trophy to genuinely go for.’
Sunday’s semi-final was played in front of 4,000 supporters as part of a pilot scheme as the UK eases out of the coronavirus pandemic.
But for those inside Wembley would have witnessed a tight first half with scarce chances – the biggest falling the way of Jamie Vardy. Youri Tielemans played a good through-ball to the pacy forward, who easily beat Jan Vestergaard. From a tight angle he tried to chip the ball over goalkeeper Fraser Forster however, his shot ended up going high and wide.
Kelechi Iheanacho proves the difference
In the second half, it was a much more entertaining affair, with Leicester starting it the better of the two teams.
And 10 minutes after the restart, the Foxes scored the only goal of the match through Iheanacho.
The play started with a brilliant through-ball from Ricardo Pereira to Vardy who found acres of space down Southampton’s left wing to cut back to Iheanacho. The Nigerian’s initial shot was blocked by Vestegaard but the ball rebounded back to him to finish into the bottom corner.
As the second half continued, Leicester substitute James Maddison had a series of half-chances. The first was a lay-off from Iheanacho, who was impressive all game, but his left-footed shot sailed over the crossbar. His second effort was closer but it flew just past the post from 25 yards out.
Leicester controlled the closing stages of the match but Southampton had one last chance to equalise with seconds left after winning a free-lick in a dangerous area. However, captain James Ward-Prowse got his set-piece horribly wrong and the effort was comfortably caught by Foxes counterpart Kasper Schmeichel.
By Barnaby Page
