Football Match: After their surprising exit from the Champions League in December, Borussia Dortmund had assumed the mantle as favourites to win the Europa League, thus Rangers’ 4-2 victory in the first leg of the knockout stage play-off at the Westfalenstadion last Thursday came as a shock.
‘Dortmund astonished,’ read the headlines, and it was easy to see why.
Rangers, on the other hand, proved that this was no fluke in the second half. Of course, an ecstatic Ibrox crowd helped Giovanni van Bronckhorst’s players throughout the game, but they managed the game brilliantly and eventually neutralised their opponents’ danger.
Prior to their journey to Scotland, Dortmund had beaten Borussia Monchengladach 6-0 in the Bundesliga and gained control of the game to cut the aggregate score to 5-4 when Jude Bellingham and Donyell Malen scored to cancel out James Tavernier’s penalty midway through the first half.
At halftime, a switch to five at the back proved to be a masterstroke. Dortmund was hardly a threat to Allan McGregor and was then pegged back when Tavernier added his second with a spectacular back post volley. The rangers should have had another, but referee Mateu Lahoz controversially ruled Ryan Kent’s low finish out.
The Gers have already reached the competition’s last 16 for the third season in a row and will fancy their prospects of progressing even further after dethroning the favourites with two professional performances.
At first sight, it appeared that Leicester had done a good job. In many ways, it was. Brendan Rodgers’ team secured a 7-2 aggregate victory over Danish side Randers and a place in the Europa Conference League’s last 16 without having to shift out of second gear.
Leicester’s performance left you wanting more, given the calibre of the opponent they faced and the fact that they went to Denmark with a 4-1 first-leg lead and were all but guaranteed of progressing from their play-off tie.
Yes, Harvey Barnes’ early strike ended Randers’ hopes before they even got off the ground, and yes, James Maddison scored two of the best goals you’re likely to see from the same player in a single game, but with Leicester in the midst of their worst crisis since Rodgers took over, the chance to emphatically turn a corner was passed up.
With the Foxes still without a clean sheet in 2022, the trip to Randers would have been a perfect opportunity to get their shaky defence back on track, but even that eluded them.
Randers was given chance after chance, and just as Leicester appeared to be on the verge of securing that elusive clean sheet, the gods of the playing surface intervened, and a horrific bobble-induced blunder from Kasper Schmeichel offered Randers a chance they couldn’t turn down.
With tougher opponents awaiting Leicester in Friday’s last-16 draw, as well as the rest of the Premier League season, the Foxes are still far from their best, with time running out to turn things around.
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