Sports Blog 14/03/2017: UEFA Champions League Last 16 2nd Leg Preview – Leicester vs Sevilla, Tuesday 14th March 2017

Can Leicester’s post-Ranieri turnaround take them all the way to the Champions League quarter-finals, or will Sevilla stop the Foxes in their tracks at 7.45pm on BT Sport 2?

Since the departure of their Italian maestro Leicester have looked like a different team; or, rather, they have looked like the team they were last season. Now, 2 games perhaps is too short a period of time to make a proper judgement. However, considering that the Foxes went from failing to score in the league in 2017 to back-to-back games 3-1 victories, the first of which was against Liverpool, suggests that the loss of their title-winning chief has gone some way to reinvigorating the locker room.



The big challenge for Craig Shakespeare now is balancing Leicester’s duel aims of staying in both the Premier League and Champions League. The former challenge is far from over, despite being 3 points above the drop with a game in hand; the latter, meanwhile, really depends on which version of the side turns up on Tuesday.

The game that immediately preceded Ranieri’s dismissal was, as it happens, the 1st leg, and he left Leicester with what turned out to be an unwitting goodbye present in the shape of a crucial away goal. Though they lost that game 2-1, Jamie Vardy’s 73rd minute strike gives the Foxes a vital lifeline, meaning all they need is a 1-0 win to go through. Vardy himself has improved in his last few games, nabbing a brace against Liverpool as well as that important goal in Spain, and sits at a Super Mega PGM of 27-32 (the same as teammate Islam Slimani).

Luckily for Leicester, Sevilla, masters of the Europa League, have stumbled a bit since March began. Bar their European win a few weeks ago, the Spaniards have been a bit inert this month, drawing against both Alaves and Leganes to damage their unlikely La Liga title push.

Whether this can lead to a sequel to last season’s surprise blockbuster, who knows; and it won’t be easy, with Spreadex offering a Sevilla/Leicester (h) Goal Supremacy spread of 0.15-0.35 alongside a Total Goals spread of 2.85-3.05. However, the Foxes have a genuine chance at reaching the quarter-finals of a European competition for the first time in their history, even if it is without the man that led them this far.