Juan Mata scored twice to give Manchester United a 2-1 lead before Harry Maguire scored a last-minute equaliser in injury-time for 10-man Leicester City
Sat 23 Dec 2017 16.49 EST
First published on Sat 23 Dec 2017 13.45 EST- Read Ed Aarons’s match report
- Full-time: Leicester City 2-2 Manchester United
- GOAL! Leicester City 2-2 Manchester United (Maguire 90+4)
- Red Card for Amartey! Leicester down to 10 men!
- GOAL! Leicester City 1-2 Manchester United (Mata 61)
- Half-time: Leicester City 1-1 Manchester United
- GOAL! Leicester City 1-1 Manchester United (Mata 39)
- GOAL! Leicester City 1-0 Manchester United (Vardy 27)
- The teams
- Preamble
Live feed
- Read Ed Aarons’s match report
- Full-time: Leicester City 2-2 Manchester United
- GOAL! Leicester City 2-2 Manchester United (Maguire 90+4)
- Red Card for Amartey! Leicester down to 10 men!
- GOAL! Leicester City 1-2 Manchester United (Mata 61)
- Half-time: Leicester City 1-1 Manchester United
- GOAL! Leicester City 1-1 Manchester United (Mata 39)
- GOAL! Leicester City 1-0 Manchester United (Vardy 27)
- The teams
- Preamble
Full-time: Leicester City 2-2 Manchester United
It’s the last kick of the game! That’s it. Through a mixture of wasted chances and last-minute defensive dithering, Manchester United have somehow managed to throw away the three points!
2-2 What a finish! Albrighton hauls one last cross into the box, the injured Smalling (back on the pitch) is unable to backpedal, and Maguire nips in at the back post to calmly slot past De Gea from an acute angle. De Gea should probably have come for the cross, but he assumed Smalling would be able to make the clearance! 2-2
GOAL! Leicester City 2-2 Manchester United (Maguire 90+4)
I can’t believe it! Leicester have done it!
90+3 min: Smalling has now gone down, surely he can’t continue. Time is off. One minute left.
90+2 min: Leicester are throwing everyone forward now, Albrighton curls a couple of tidy crosses in, well defended by Lindelof, who has played well since Leicester scored. Rashford attacks on the counter-attack, but chooses to keep the ball rather than play Lukaku in.
90 min: Four minutes added on here. United are holding on!
88 min: Smalling has obviously pulled his groin. He’s limping and grimacing, but United have made all of their subs! Jones and Herrera are in deep discussion as to what they should do. Jones wants Lindelof at centre back, but Herrera overrules him. Smalling is out of his feet. It’s 10.5 v 10!
86 min: Leicester are taking chances, and there are gaps appearing at the back. Rashford breaks forward and it’s three on three. He finds Lukaku, who slips Mkhitaryan through on goal, and the Armenian inexplicably cuts the ball back to nobody, rather than shoot! The substitute has had a terrible time of it since coming on: loose passes, clumsy fouls, and the Leicester fans are cheering every mistake.
84 min: Penalty appeal for Leicester. As a high ball comes into the box, Smalling climbs all over Maguire, right in front of the referee. It’s a blatant penalty, and I have no idea why Jon Moss doesn’t award the spot kick. Absolutely terrible decision making from Smalling, who somehow got away with one.
82 min: Mata off, Mkhitaryan on. The Spaniard is clapped off the field, and given a couple of pats on the back by Mourinho. Well played.
81 min: Mahrez goes down under a challenge of Herrera, and is promptly shown a yellow card for simulation.
79 min: Leicester pour forward, Maguire is dribbling the ball on the edge of United’s box (!!!) but they lose it cheaply and are horribly exposed at the back. Pogba breaks forward and bends a wonderful pass round to Rashford, who is one on one with Schmeichel, who gets the tiniest of fingertips on the ball as Rashford tries to round the keeper. Jon Moss could easily have given that as a penalty, but no dice! United have had two golden chances to finish this match!
77 min: Some breaking news …
75 min: Manchester United make a sub: Herrera on for Lingard. He gets a good reception from the United away fans, despite his howler.
Red card! No excuses for Amartey, who simply boots Rashford up in the air, as the Englishman glides past him. Puel is quite the picture, both hands in his pockets, a face full of thunder as Amartey trudges past down the tunnel.
Red Card for Amartey! Leicester down to 10 men!
He’s only been on the pitch for 17 minutes!
71 min: Lingard misses an open goal! It’s Manchester United that are hitting Leicester on the counter attack now. Lukaku holds the ball up well, and times a beautiful slide-rule pass through to Lingard, who rounds Schmeichel cleanly but then hits his shot against the bottom of the left post! It was on his stronger right foot and not even a tight angle. Shocker!
69 min: Rashford comes on for Martial, who looks crestfallen, but does applaud the travelling United fans as he walks off.
67 min: Amartey is booked for bringing down Young. No complaints.
65 min: Leicester make their second change: Okazaki on, Iborra off.
64 min: Manchester United have definitely dropped deeper since scoring the second goal. It will be interesting to see if they’ve got the creativity to break down United down once they are properly set defensively.
1-2 The Spaniard curls it over the wall, and beyond the outstretched hand of Schmeichel! Question marks perhaps over the keeper’s positioning, but the free-kick was so close that Schmeichel had to properly guard the far post. He couldn’t hedge his bets, and Mata’s aim was true. Weirdly, he celebrated with the same praying celebration (minus the roly-poly) that Keane used earlier.
GOAL! Leicester City 1-2 Manchester United (Mata 61)
Mata gets his second of the evening, direct from the free kick!
59 min: Martial wins a free-kick right on the edge of the box, brought down off the ball. Twenty five yards, out, Mata is over the ball.
57 min: Simpson is not going to be able to continue. He’ll be replaced by Amartey, who hasn’t played in the league since the opening day of the season.
55 min: Play stops, as Simpson is struggling with a knock. Jon Moss issues a yellow card for Albrighton, who cynically tripped Lingard.
53 min: Mahrez, meanwhile, is turning it on. He shows Young left, and goes right to the byline, flashing a low cross right across the six-yard box, which misses everybody but Fuchs at the back post. He takes a touch and hammers a shot goalwards, but Lindelof recovers well to get his block in. That was a certain goal otherwise!
51 min: There is still acres of space for Martial, but he seems to have lost a bit of confidence, and isn’t causing Simpson nearly as many problems.
50 min: It’s a slow, sluggish start to the second half. Simpson and Morgan with a lot of sideways passes.
49 min: Meanwhile, in India.
47 min: Yellow card for Matic, who pulls back Mahrez after the Algerian nutmegged him.
Peeeeeep! We’re off again. No changes at the break, Mourinho was out in his dugout a good five minutes before his players came out of the tunnel.
Half-time reading:
Half-time: Leicester City 1-1 Manchester United
A great half of football.
45+2 min: Pogba is perhaps a little lucky to escape a caution after pulling back Simpson cynically.
45 min: Two minutes added on here.
44 min: Twice Manchester United have wasted excellent crossing opportunities. First Martial tried a dummy when he would have been much better controlling the ball, next Pogba’s cross is underhit when Lukaku and Martial were waiting completely unmarked at the back post.
43 min: A neat trick from Mahrez wins a free kick, from which Manchester United completely go to sleep! Albrighton floats a cross to the back post, and Maguire ghosts in completely unmarked, but three yards out, is unable to control the ball! Young clears. What a let off.
41 min: Simpson has his hands up in the air in protest, he’s been given no protection by Albrighton, and Martial has taken him to the cleaners.