A 1-1 draw at the Theater of Dreams means Leicester City has to wait at least another 24 hours for the result at Stamford Bridge between Chelsea and Tottenham.
Manchester United's Antonio Valencia (left) and Leicester City's Jeff
Schlupp (right) played out a hard fought draw at Old Trafford. (Photo:
LCFC)
LONDON: Leicester's Premier League title celebrations were
delayed for at least another 24 hours after the leaders drew 1-1 with
Manchester United on Sunday (May 1).
The Foxes needed three points to win the league for the
first time, but with thousands of fans back in Leicester and millions of
new converts around the world watching on television, they had to make
do with one after Wes Morgan cancelled out Anthony Martial's opener for
United.
Leicester, who lost Danny Drinkwater to a late red card,
will be crowned champions unless second-place Tottenham Hotspur win at
Chelsea on Monday, but if Spurs do prevail, Ranieri's men will be left
requiring two points from their final games, at home to Everton and away
to Chelsea.
It would still take a monumental collapse for Leicester not
to claim the title, but their players, staff and anxious supporters must
wait a few more hours, if not days, before their place in sporting
history can be confirmed.
While Leicester's title destiny remains in their own hands,
it was a damaging result for Louis van Gaal's United, who were left four
points below the Champions League places with only three games to play.
Leicester have turned winning with minimal possession into
an art form this season, but United's early dominance here was to prove
the precursor to a soft opener.
Antonio Valencia, preferred to 18-year-old Timothy Fosu-Mensah at
right-back, was allowed to cut inside Christian Fuchs and trundle a
cross to the back post, where Martial exploited Danny Simpson's errant
positioning to slot his 15th goal of the season past Kasper Schmeichel.Back at the ground where his father, Peter, made his name, Schmeichel then produced a sharp one-handed save to thwart Jesse Lingard after Marouane Fellaini had chested down a cross from Marcos Rojo.
SIMPSON SURVIVES
Shortly after Schmeichel's save, visiting captain Morgan outmuscled the floundering Rojo to meet Drinkwater's arcing free-kick with a headed 17th-minute equaliser.
The game was now an intense, robust encounter and Fellaini was guilty of a wild elbow to Robert Huth's chin, after the German had provoked him by yanking his hair, that could earn the Belgian a retrospective ban.
Referee Michael Oliver did not spot Fellaini's infringement and he was also involved in two incidents prior to half-time that could have had major ramifications for either side.
In the first, Lingard intercepted a pass from Simpson, a former United player, on halfway and raced towards goal, only to go to ground as Simpson leant into him.
It would have been a red card if Oliver had called it a foul, but he saw no wrongdoing and it was the same story moments later -- albeit perhaps more contentiously -- when Riyad Mahrez crashed to the turf after being caught by Rojo inside the United box.
The teams continued to exchange chances in the second half, with Martial shooting over and Lingard curling straight at Schmeichel for United, while Leonardo Ulloa, once again deputising for the suspended Jamie Vardy, twice threatened for the visitors.
Mahrez, the Player of the Year, had been a peripheral presence, but with 19 minutes remaining he wriggled past three players before stinging David de Gea's palms from the edge of the box.
The closing stages belonged to United, however, with Chris Smalling's header clipping the post before Drinkwater, another Old Trafford old boy, saw red after receiving a second yellow card for hauling back substitute Memphis Depay right on the edge of the box.
- AFP/mn/ec
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