Leicester City snatched a dramatic draw against Manchester United on Saturday night.
Leicester took the lead in the first-half thanks to Jamie Vardy’s goal on the counter-attack. Juan Mata made it 1-1 and then 2-1 with two brilliant finishes, the second of which was a fantastic free-kick from the edge of the penalty area that Kasper Schmeichel couldn’t save. With just over 17 minutes to play, Daniel Amartey was sent-off for the home side and it looked as though United were on-course for a victory.
Jose Mourinho’s side had a glut of chances to kill the game off, but couldn’t find a third goal. Then, with virtually the last kick of the game, the Foxes rescued a point thanks to Harry Maguire’s goal in the final seconds of injury-time.
Marc Albrighton launched a cross into the United penalty area, after previously sending in a few crosses from a similar position, and landed the ball in the path of Maguire. The England defender finished like a seasoned striker at the back-post.
Many United fans pinned the blame for the goal on Chris Smalling, who was injured but still hobbling around the pitch as United sought to see the game out. The defender watched the ball sail over his head before it reached Maguire.
In truth, a lot had to go wrong before Smalling’s error, and it could be argued he shouldn’t have been on the pitch if he was injured. Following the game, Mourinho said his side failed to win because they missed “joke” chances. And many United fans will agree that “joke” is an apt description for the farcical end to the game.
https://twitter.com/cmwinterburn/status/944686778040160258
“We made a big defensive accumulation of mistakes in an easy match to win,” he told Sky Sports.
“I talked to the players at half time when it was 1-1 that it was an easy match to win. Childish loss of possession, so easy. Childish in their box and childish in our box. We were punished in two points. The reality is that it is 2-2. Sometimes you make mistakes and are not punished by that.”
He also told reporters that he had given instructions to his team to re-organise the defence, and accused his players of lacking “maturity.”
Mourinho accuses players of 'lack of maturity' for not re-organising, as he says he told them to do via Young in final minutes when Smalling was injured & immobile
— Sam Wallace (@SamWallaceTel) December 23, 2017
https://twitter.com/utdxtra/status/944692720953634816
