Leicester reach last 16 to continue fairytale year

LEICESTER, England - Leicester City added another tale of remarkable success to an incredible year by reaching the last 16 of the Champions League in their debut season with a 2-1 victory over Club Bruges on Tuesday.

A volley from Shinji Okazaki and a Riyad Mahrez penalty put Leicester two goals ahead in the first half and they managed to see off a revival from the visitors who pulled one back with a fine individual effort after the break from Jose Izquierdo.

The result moved the Premier League champions to 13 points from five matches and not only ensured their spot in the knockout stages, but also their status as Group G winners with one match to spare.

It was a mixed performance, however, from Claudio Ranieri's side who were scintillating in the first half but much more like the team that has struggled in the Premier League this season after the break as the visitors pegged them back.

Leicester's fans, however, are unlikely to care about a sloppy second-half display after moving forward in Europe's elite club competition just seven years after they were playing in the third tier of English football and 18 months after narrowly avoiding relegation from the top flight.

The hosts ripped through the Bruges defense to open the scoring after five minutes as an incisive counter attack of the sort that characterized their run to the English title last season ended with Okazaki swiveling to volley home Christian Fuch's cross.

A thoroughly dominant first-half display then received further reward 15 minutes before the break when Marc Albrighton was tripped by Dion Cools and Mahrez slammed his penalty down the middle of the goal to double Leicester's lead.

They received a shock to the system when Izquierdo ran from the halfway line and rifled into the roof of the net after 52 minutes.

It was the first goal Leicester had conceded in the Champions League and it prompted a nervy retreat into their shell as Bruges pressed for an equalizer, but they held out to reach another remarkable milestone in 2016.

(Reporting by Toby Davis, editing by Pritha Sarkar)

source: news.abs-cbn.com

PREMIER LEAGUE: Okazaki upstages Benitez as Leicester march on

LEICESTER -- Shinji Okazaki's stunning goal upstaged new Newcastle United manager Rafael Benitez as Leicester City reasserted a five-point lead in the Premier League with a tight 1-0 victory on Monday.

Benitez was taking charge of Newcastle for the first time since being appointed as the successor to the sacked Steve McClaren on a three-year contract, but it was Japan international Okazaki, 29, who stole the headlines with an acrobatic 25th-minute overhead kick.

Okazaki's sixth goal of the season took Leicester five points clear of Tottenham Hotspur, who had trimmed their lead to two points with victory at Aston Villa on Sunday, and nudged Claudio Ranieri's men a step closer to an extraordinary title triumph.

"It was not our best performance, but we showed great spirit," said Ranieri, whose side require 20 points from their final eight matches to win the title.

"I feel now that I am just concentrating on the next game against Crystal Palace. We are so strong, we think only one game at a time. Step by step, that is our philosophy."

It was Newcastle's fourth consecutive defeat -- a first this season -- and saw Leicester complete a league double over the north-east giants for the first time since the 1974-75 campaign.

The visitors showed more fight than in recent weeks at the King Power Stadium, but they remain in the relegation zone ahead of Benitez's St James' Park baptism of fire on Sunday against local rivals and fellow strugglers Sunderland.

"I will take the positives," said Benitez. "We did well. You could see the commitment and the passion.

"There were a lot of positives and the team showed that they are convinced they can win."

Benitez made two changes to the team beaten 3-1 by Bournemouth in McClaren's final game, with Vurnon Anita and Aleksandar Mitrovic coming in, while Jack Colback moved from central midfield to left-back.

Another novelty saw Moussa Sissoko line up on the left flank and the France international gave the hosts an early scare when he chased down Wes Morgan's back-pass and forced Kasper Schmeichel into a hurried clearance.

- Albrighton goes close -

It set the tone for an assured start by Newcastle, for whom lone striker Mitrovic proved an effective battering ram.

Ayoze Perez and Colback each shot wide from decent positions, Sissoko headed the wrong side of the post from Daryl Janmaat's right-wing cross and Mitrovic played a cross-shot right across the face of goal.

But Leicester stirred, Riyad Mahrez seeing a shot blocked by Steven Taylor and Robert Huth nodding the resulting corner over the bar, and midway through the first half they made the breakthrough.

Mahrez's free-kick from deep on the right was only cleared as far as Marc Albrighton, loitering on the left-hand edge of the box, and his cross was nodded back by Jamie Vardy for Okazaki to score with a picture-book overhead bicycle kick.

Moments later Albrighton almost made it two, jinking this way and then the other before bending a shot a foot wide of the right-hand upright.

Perez warmed Schmeichel's gloves from range at the other end, but with Leicester keeping Newcastle at arm's length, Benitez made a change early in the second half by sending on Andros Townsend for Anita.

The change saw Georginio Wijnaldum drop into central midfield and Newcastle were immediately enlivened, Janmaat forcing Albrighton into an alert block and Perez sending a shot into the side-netting.

Ranieri responded by introducing Jeff Schlupp for Okazaki, giving Leicester extra cover on the left against the tricky Townsend, while Albrighton switched flanks to the right and Mahrez moved inside.

Newcastle goalkeeper Rob Elliot almost gifted Vardy a goal when he dropped a long throw from Christian Fuchs, only to gather it at the second attempt.

But the butterflies were all in the stomachs of the home fans in the latter stages, Huth blocking from Sissoko and Newcastle substitute Siem de Jong miscuing from 15 yards, before the whistle drew a roar of relief.

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com

Premier League 2015-16: The Davids' time to shine

No matter how your favorite Premier League team is faring at the moment, you have to admit that the current season is interesting and loaded with drama.

The two great stories are traditional powers floundering with the underachieving clubs turning out great results and the managers of top sides losing their jobs or seem to be on the verge of getting axed. Regarding the latter, that’s nothing unusual because of the pressure to win and their big wages.

Following the Boxing Day results, the results confirmed the nature of this most improbable season. Unlikely Leicester City atop the league with 38 points, two ahead of second place Arsenal (shocking 4-0 losers to Southampton and missing a huge chance to leap into first spot) despite its December 26 loss to inconsistent Liverpool, 1-nil.

Manchester City is third, while Tottenham is fourth. Manchester United, the gold standard for Premier League squads, is in sixth spot after absorbing a fourth straight loss, this one a 2-nil loss to Stoke City.

Where is Chelsea and Liverpool in the standings? The latter is at eighth place having just arrested a shocking skid after being bloodied in the nose by Watford, held to a 2-2 draw by West Brom and a loss to Newcastle, 2-0.

West Brom is at 13th, while Newcastle is in the relegation zone at 18th. Another Premier League fixture, Aston Villa, is dead last in the 20-team league with only eight points accrued from 20 fixtures. They look to be relegated should their free fall continue.

Chelsea is at 15th spot and hovering above the relegation zone and 20 points adrift of first place in the standings.

Watford, one of those less popular clubs is at seventh having drawn Chelsea and surviving a late penalty kick awarded to the Blues that they flubbed. The week before, they dealt Liverpool a crushing, 3-nil shellacking. Last November, they also defeated Aston Villa, 3-2.

Stoke City, currently at 11th, dealt the two Manchester squads identical 2-0 defeats in the space of three weeks.

West Brom’s best results this season were its 2-1 win over Arsenal and its draw against Liverpool.

Bournemouth, newly promoted to the Premier League for the first time in their 69-year history, fashioned some huge wins over Chelsea (1-0) and Manchester United (2-1) and a 3-3 draw against Everton. They are currently at 14th spot.

Taking at look at four clubs — Leicester, Stoke, Watford and Bournemouth — they averaged L46.5 million in wages -- half the amount paid by the top five big spending English clubs (Man City, Man United, Arsenal, Chelsea, and Liverpool). Despite West Ham being a small club, they technically aren’t because they are one of the five London-based Premier League sides and have been in the Premier League for some time. The aforementioned four sides have been either in the top flight a few years ago or newly-promoted.

Further to the funds available, the money the small clubs have on hand for the transfer window averages a paltry L12.7 million.

The success of the small clubs (and we haven’t even mentioned the upsets of Norwich City) has been due to several factors — smart football minds running the show, strong defensive midfielders and back fours, and underrated but incredible attacking threats.

Smart football minds

Stoke has had two very good managers. Tony Pulis for several years before the even more shrewd Mark Hughes took over last season and rebuilt his reputation after a disastrous spell with Queens Park Rangers.

Leicester brought Italian Claudio Ranieri who had the smarts to keep some of the previous coaching staff’s assistants for some continuity.

Bournemouth’s journey is even more incredible as twice in their history have they come back from bankruptcy to be promoted. The Cherries, as they are known, have received some money (a paltry L25 million in the last three years) from their new Russian owner Max Demin and some of these investments such as in their sports science and video support that is vastly underrated. Both have helped their players perform much better. The front office has managed the influx of money by bringing in smart and sound players, some of who have come in as free transfers. One such is Polish goalkeeper Art Boruc. Midfielder Matt Ritchie from Swindon Town and South African Tokelo Rantie from small Italian side Malmo.

Strong defense

The top two goalkeepers in the Premier League at the moment are Stoke’s Jack Butland and Watford’s Heurelho Gomes.

Leicester features a strong back four and a compact midfield. Watford manager Quique Sanchez Flores builds his game behind a strong back four that likes to hit on counter attacks.

Both have eight clean sheets yet Butland has 73 saves to Gomes’ 52.

New names for attacking threats

Leicester has the duo of Jamie Vardy (league-leading 15 goals) and Riyad Mahrez (tied at second with two others with 13 goals). Stoke has the trio of Marko Arnautovic, Bojan Krkic, and Xherdan Shaqiri. Watford has Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney.

Bournemouth plays a pass-and-go offense yet will need an even bigger scoring stud upfront as they have only 22 goals against 32 conceded. Callum Wilson has only five goals; a poor ratio of a goal per 108 minutes played.

Following Leicester’s 1-nil loss to Liverpool, their second of the season and their first shut out, there’s talk that they have lost steam and will fall by the wayside. Wherever they finish, the same goes to the small clubs, they will have given this season a memorable flavor.

Oh, hey… all of a sudden that Leicester City shop in the heart of Bangkok (just outside the Siam Paragon mall along Rama I Road) is getting swamped with new fans. That’s pretty good too, right?

source: www.abs-cbnnews.com