Ronaldo draws blank as Man Utd lose at Leicester

The focus will fall on United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer after his side failed to win for the third consecutive Premier League game. United led at the King Power thanks to Mason Greenwood's spectacular strike, but were quickly pegged back by Youri Tielemans' dinked finish beyond David de Gea. A flurry of four goals in the final 12 minutes then condemned Solskjaer's men to a first defeat on the road since January 2020.

Caglar Soyuncu put Leicester in front before Marcus Rashford equalised on his first appearance of the season after shoulder surgery. Straight from kick-off, United's leaky defence was breached once more as Jamie Vardy smashed home and Patson Daka's first Leicester goal in stoppage time sealed a much-needed win for Brendan Rodgers' men.

It was an even start to the contest with Maddison and Greenwood having chances for either side, but United drew first blood in the 19th minute. Bruno Fernandes laid the ball off to Mason Greenwood who hit a thunderbolt across Schmeichel from 25 yards and it went in off the far post. That gave Solskjaer's men a boost and even though the Foxes continued to attack, Man Utd were the better side and could have made it 0-2 through Cristiano Ronaldo. Then, just after the half hour, Leicester surprisingly levelled.

De Gea passed the ball to Maguire who was caught sleeping, Iheanacho intercepted the pass and gave it to Tielemans who hit a looping shot into the top corner from inside the box. That changed the game completely and Brendan Rodgers' men finished the first half on top. Jamie Vardy and Kelechi Iheanacho had opportunities to give Leicester a half-time lead, but they failed to hit the target. 

In the second half, the game became even once again and Matic had United's best effort before Mason Greenwood spurned a glaring opportunity 25 minutes from time after Ronaldo had a shot blocked by an opponent. United were made to pay for that miss as Leicester built up pressure and Tielemans was denied by a terrific save onto the post by David De Gea. However, in the 79th minute, Leicester once again hit the front. Lindelof half cleared a corner, substitute Daka was denied by De Gea and Soyuncu put in the rebound after the ball struck Ayoze Perez.

Marcus Rashford levelled the scores in the 82nd minute after he got on the end of a terrific long punt forward by Victor Lindelof, but seconds later, Leicester were back ahead. Castagne gave the ball to Ayoze Perez who got into the box and passed to Vardy who left De Gea with no chance. 

Then, as Leicester looked for an equaliser, Daka got on the end of Tielemans' free-kick at the back post after a silly foul given away by Wan-Bissaka to seal the points for the men in blue. Man Utd's defensive frailities were once again on show and Solskjaer has work to do. It was a deserved win for the home side and they now move into 11th in the table.

In other games, Wolves produced a miraculous comeback from 2-0 down with 10 minutes remaining to win 3-2 at Aston Villa. Danny Ings and John McGinn had put the hosts in a commanding position at Villa Park. But Romain Saiss, Conor Coady and Ruben Neves handed Bruno Lage's men a dramatic three points.

Southampton got their first league win of the season thanks to Armando Broja's goal to beat Leeds 1-0. Norwich remain winless and bottom of the table after a 0-0 draw with Brighton.

 

October 16, 2021