Leicester City overcame Spanish side Sevilla 2-0, winning their Round of 16 tie of the Champions League 3-2 on aggregate.
Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, Wes Morgan bundled home a free-kick in the first half before Marc Albrighton’s left-footed strike put the game out of reach of the visitors, who saw Samir Nasri sent off for a second yellow before Steven N’Zonzi missed a penalty, which could have sent the game into extra time.
Leicester started sluggishly as Nasri had a shot saved by Kasper Schmeichel with Sevilla’s first shot of the match before he was booked for a challenge on Wilfred Ndidi. Wassim Ben Yedder dragged his shot wide before Jamie Vardy drew a foul from Vicente Iborra.
Sevilla were penalised from the resulting free-kick as Riyad Mahrez’s inviting delivery found captain Morgan whose thigh put the ball past Sergio Rico at the far post. The second half started with Julian Escudero’s long-range thriker crashing off Schmeichel’s post as Leicester probed for that second goal.
Albrighton then doubled Leicester’s lead as Mahrez’s cross ricocheted to the Englishman who took a shot before burying the ball into the bottom corner with his left foot. Nasri would then see red for a second yellow card as he got into a tussle with Jamie Vardy.
With ten minutes left, Schmeichel brought Vitolo down in the box with the Sevilla attacker through on goal. N’Zonzi stepped up but the former Stoke man had a weak attempt which was parried away by Schmeichel junior, as dad Peter looked on with pride.
The Foxes held on as they qualified for the quarter-finals of the Champions League in their first ever campaign and look forward to the draw on Friday.
Porto have man sent off again
After losing Alex Telles to a red in their first game which ended 2-0 in favour of the Italian champions, Porto had Maxi Pereira sent off at the Juventus Stadium in Turin as they lost 1-0 on the night.
Custodian Iker Casillas was playing a CL record 168th game as his team sought to overturn a two goal deficit. Gonzalo Higuain’s shot from a corner was blocked by the Porto right-back in a last ditch challenge but the ball struck his arm and the referee had no choice but to send Pereira off.
Paulo Dybala then sent Casillas the wrong way as he put Juve up 1-0, the scoreline remaining the same till the end of the game. Juventus remain on course for a first Champions League title since 1996.
Brief Scores:
Leicester City 2 (Wes Morgan, Marc Albrighton) beat Sevilla 0; advance 3-2 on aggregate (First Leg: 1-2)
Juventus 1 (Paulo Dybala penalty) beat Porto 0; advance 3-0 on aggregate (First Leg: 2-0)
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