Internet Desk: Spanish outfit Sevilla will go to Leicester with a single goal lead after the defending Premier League champions crawled their way back into the clash after an important strike by Jamie Vardy in the second half.
Leicester City have endured a disappointing domestic season and are in serious threat of becoming the first top-tier English team since 1938 to be relegated straight after winning the title. But they’ve saved their quality performances so far this season for the Champions League, and they demonstrated their combative qualities to be there very much in the contest.
Sevilla began in a positive fashion and could have taken the lead in the 14th minute when they were awarded a penalty after a foul by captain Wes Morgan, but Kasper Schmeichel saved Joaquin Correa’s timid penalty, which was straight at him.
The Spanish club remained in control though and took the lead soon after through the impressive Pablo Sarabia, whose towering header flew into the far corner.
Correa atoned for his penalty miss with Sevilla’s second, firing into the roof of the net after good work by Stevan Jovetic.
Englishman Jamie Vardy’s predatory finish from Danny Drinkwater’s perfect low cross from the left put a different complexion on the second leg in three weeks’ time, with Leicester still very much in the tie.
On the other hand, Italian giant Juventus put themselves in a brilliant position to go through to the next round of the Champions League on Wednesday with an emphatic 2-0 win away victory against Porto.
The first leg of the last 16 tie seemed evenly matched over the course of the first 20 minutes, before full back Alex Telles was given marching orders after two consecutive yellow cards for two unwanted challenges.
Though Juventus dominated the possession and the goal-scoring opportunities, it wasn’t until late on in the 2nd half that the breakthrough finally appeared, following some smart substitutions from Massimiliano Allegri.
Some added impetus from Marko Pjaca was almost immediate, when he scored a fortunate one-two just five minutes after entering the field. Two minutes later Dani Alves then knocked in a cross after stepping on to the pitch 60 seconds earlier.
German international Sami Khedira then came close to making it three moments before full time, but his outstretched leg could only flick the ball wide of Iker Casillas’ far post.
Porto now face the daunting task of travelling to Turin with the hope of at least matching Juventus’ two-goal cushion.