Leicester City 1-1 Spartak Moscow: Player ratings as Jamie Vardy misses crucial penalty
Leicester City were made to rue a missed penalty from Jamie Vardy on Thursday evening, as they fell to a disappointing home draw with Sparktak Moscow in the Europa League.
Spartak had actually taken the lead in the game via Victor Moses (yes, that Victor Moses), before Daniel Amartey drew his side level. With a quarter of an hour remaining the homes side were given the chance to win the game when Moses (yes, still that Moses) brought down Ademola Lookman in the penalty area - however Vardy was unable to convert the resulting spot kick.
The Foxes really hit the ground running on Thursday night, with Patson Daka and Ayoze Perez both seeing decent chances fall their way in the opening ten minutes.
The home side were then incredibly unlucky not to take lead through Boubakary Soumare, whose thunderous strike from outside the penalty area cannoned off the upright. The crossbar probably still hasn't stopped shaking.
After that quick start, however, Leicester largely struggled to find their way through a sturdy Spartak Moscow defence throughout the rest of the first half.
Then at the start of the second half, disaster struck - or Victor Moses to be precise. The former Chelsea man brilliantly headed home a Mikhail Ignatov cross from the right flank to give Spartak a shock lead at the King Power Stadium.
Five minutes later, Leicester bagged an equaliser through Daniel Amartey. The centre-back latched onto a flicked on corner kick from Youri Tielemans to nod home at the back post.
It was all Leicester thereafter, and they shockingly didn't take the lead after Ademola Lookman was brought down in the penalty area by Moses. Substitute Jamie Vardy, who is usually automatic from the spot, saw a surprisingly tame effort saved by Aleksandr Selikhov in the 75th minute.
The home side came even closer to bagging the winner five minutes later, when Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall saw his header, destined to hit the back of the net, blocked by his own teammate Kelechi Iheanacho. The forward, after blocking the header, then proceeded to hit the post from his resulting effort on goal. All in, a pretty 20 seconds for the Nigerian that.
Leicester City player ratings
1. Goalkeeper & defenders
Kasper Schmeichel (GK) - 5/10 - Could do nothing about Moses' goal.
Daniel Amartey (CB) - 7/10 - The best of the back three and popped up with an important equaliser.
Jonny Evans (CB) - 5/10 - In no-man's land for the opening goal.
Caglar Soyuncu (CB) - 5/10 - Caught out with balls over the top early in the game. Half-decent going forward, but he's a centre-back so who cares.
2. Midfielders & wing-backs
Timothy Castagne (RWB) - 6/10 - A real threat down the right flank all evening.
Youri Tielemans (CM) - 5/10 - Had all the time in the world on the ball, but rarely did anything with it in the first half. His corner proved to be the catalyst for the equaliser however.
Boubakary Soumare (CM) - 7/10 - Cannoned the ball off the crossbar in the first half, and was probably Leicester's best player on the night.
Ryan Bertrand (LWB) - 3/10 - Didn't get forward with any real purpose.
3. Forwards
Patson Daka (RW) - 4/10 - Worked hard, but didn't really cause Spartak's defence too many problems.
Kelechi Iheanacho (ST) - 3/10 - Hit the post late on, and also blocked a certain goal from one of his teammates. Not ideal.
Ayoze Perez (LW) - 2/10 - Apparently he was on the pitch in the first half. Can neither confirm or deny that he was. Finally popped up and did something on the hour mark, flicking on Tielemans' corner kick to set up the equaliser.
4. Substitutes
Ademola Lookman - 6/10 - Came on and won a penalty.
Jamie Vardy - 3/10 - Came on and missed a penalty.
Wilfred Ndidi - 5/10 - Added a bit of energy in midfield.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall - 5/10 - Almost scored with his first touch of the ball.