LONDON: Leicester City’s topsy-turvy season hit another high as goasl from Wes Morgan and Marc Albrighton propelled the Premier League strugglers into the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
The Foxes continue to stun Europe’s football elite after turning around a 2-1 first leg deficit to win 2-0 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate.
Craig Shakespeare’s first game in full time charge ended with last season’s shock Premier League champions keeping their European adventure alive.
They were helped when Samir Nasri all but ended Sevilla’s hopes after he was sent off having squared up to Jamie Vardy.
Kasper Schmeichel also saved Steven Nzonzi’s penalty – his second spot-kick stop of the tie – and Sevilla boss Jorge Sampaoli was sent to the stands to cap his wretched night.
The tie should have been over in Spain but Sevilla failed to take their chances and their hopes of reaching the last eight for the first time since 1958 were damaged when Morgan opened the scoring in the first half.
Leicester’s relentless determination ensured Shakespeare maintained his 100 per cent record as the Foxes recorded one of the biggest wins in their history.
Shakespeare, appointed as manager until the end of the season on Sunday, kept faith with the side which had won his two previous games in charge and he was indebted to Schmeichel after just three minutes.
The goalkeeper was one of the Foxes’ heroes from the first leg, saving Joaquin Correa’s penalty and making several saves, and he continued his own personal duel with the Spanish side when his smart saved denied Nasri at the near post.
The hosts scored with their first effort of the game in the 27th minute.
Vardy was brought down just outside the box and when Riyad Mahrez swung in a deep free-kick Morgan stuck out his leg to divert it in from six yards as Gabriel Mercardo dozed off.
Rare goal
It was Morgan’s 26th career goal and came almost exactly 14 years to the day when he scored his first – for Kidderminster against Cambridge in the old Division Three.
The visitors almost found a route back after 54 minutes when Escudero 30-yard drive smacked off the underside of the crossbar, with Wissam Ben Yedder firing the rebound over.
It was a let-off Leicester heeded and they immediately doubled their advantage. Again Sevilla’s defending was their undoing as they failed to clear Mahrez’s cross which fell to Albrighton and he buried low past Sergio Rico from 16 yards.
Any hopes of a comeback were over when Nasri walked for a second yellow card and Schmeichel saved Nzonzi’s penalty in five nightmare minutes for the visitors.
First, Nasri was dismissed after 74 minutes when he and Vardy squared up – the pair clashing heads – with the Manchester City loanee needing to be ushered off before Nzonzi wasted Sevilla’s best chance.
Schmeichel brought down Vitolo in the box but made amends when he easily claimed the former Stoke midfielder’s poor 79th-minute penalty.
Then, with eight minutes left, Sampaoli was sent from the touchline by referee Daniele Orsate to compound Sevilla’s woes.
** Juventus reached fhe quarter-finals with a 1-0 win over Porto which added up to a 3-0 aggregate success.
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