Schmeichel thwarts Sevilla as Leicester rekindle fairytale

LEICESTER, United Kingdom: Kasper Schmeichel pulled off a dramatic late penalty save as Leicester City sank Sevilla 2-0 on Tuesday to reach the Champions League quarter-finals for the first time.

Trailing 2-1 from the first leg, after which Claudio Ranieri was sacked as manager, Leicester scored through Wes Morgan and Marc Albrighton before Schmeichel repelled Steven N’Zonzi’s spot-kick.

It gave them a 3-2 aggregate win and continued a remarkable turnaround under new manager Craig Shakespeare, who has won three games in a row since stepping up from his role as Ranieri’s assistant.

Unrecognisable in the defence of their miraculous Premier League title, Leicester have found solace in the Champions League and have now won all four of their home matches in the competition.

They also chose a good time to rediscover a bit of defensive solidity — and good fortune — having previously gone 12 matches without keeping a clean sheet in all competitions.

Sevilla, winners of the last three Europa Leagues, saw Samir Nasri sent off late on after he was shown an extraordinary second yellow card for aiming a headbutt at Jamie Vardy.

N’Zonzi might yet have taken the game to extra time after Schmeichel was penalised for catching Vitolo after the forward had dinked a shot past him.

But the Dane redeemed himself with a save low to his left, thwarting Sevilla’s hopes of reaching the last eight for the first time since 1958.

The back-to-back 3-1 wins against Liverpool and Hull City overseen by Shakespeare had restored Leicester’s self-belief and the stadium crackled with anticipation prior to kick-off.

A carpet of blue and white flags greeted the teams, while Leicester’s fans unveiled a giant banner of Shakespeare, accompanied by the rousing William Shakespeare quote: “Let slip the dogs of war.”

For all the sound and fury generated by the home support, it was Sevilla who procured the first two sights of goal.

Nasri, one of eight changes made by Sampaoli, was denied by a one-handed save from Schmeichel in the fourth minute, while Pablo Sarabia dragged wide with his left foot.

But in the 27th minute, Leicester took control of the tie, Riyad Mahrez swinging a free-kick into the box after Vicente Iborra had felled Vardy and Morgan bundling home with his right knee.

The King Power Stadium erupted with a noise that recalled the triumphs of last year and short of a mishit Gabriel Mercado cross that Schmeichel had to palm over, Leicester reached the break without alarm.

Sampaoli made two changes at half-time, sending on Mariano Ferreira and Stevan Jovetic for Mercado and Sarabia, and eight minutes in his side came within millimetres of restoring their advantage.

Sergio Escudero let fly with a fluttering effort from 35 yards that crashed against the bar before bouncing down and out, with Jovetic hoisting the rebound over.

Barely a minute later, Leicester took the lead in the tie outright.

Mahrez’s cross from the right was tamely headed away by Adil Rami, allowing Albrighton to chest the ball down and arrow a left-foot drive past a statuesque Sergio Rico.

Nasri’s moment of madness arrived shortly after Schmeichel had parried from substitute Joaquin Correa.

With play ongoing, the Frenchman, taking exception to a push from Vardy, squared up to the England striker and lowered his head, prompting a second yellow card from referee Daniele Orsato.

Orsato was not prepared to abandon centre-stage and after awarding Sevilla penalty, he compounded the visitors’ frustrations by sending the protesting Sampaoli to the stands.

Meanwhile, a first-half penalty from Paulo Dybala helped fire Juventus into the Champions League quarter-finals after a 1-0 win sent the Serie A champions through 3-0 on aggregate.

Despite enjoying plenty of possession in a first half that saw the hosts squander a number of chances, their bid ended when right-back Maxi Pereira saw red after handling Gonzalo Higuain’s goal-bound shot five minutes before the break.

Romanian referee Ovidiu Hategan pointed to the spot and Argentinian playmaker Dybala stepped up to drill into the bottom-right corner as Iker Casillas dived the other way.

Juventus stretched their unbeaten home record in Europe to 21 games — the last time they suffered a home defeat in Europe was a 2-0 Champions League loss to Bayern Munich, in the quarter-finals, in April 2013.

However, Juve coach Massimiliano Allegri warned his side must improve, whoever they are drawn against in the last eight.

Juventus won 2-0 in Portugal thanks to goals from Marko Pjaca and Dani Alves after Alex Telles was sent off on 27 minutes.

Allegri deployed an attack-minded 4-2-3-1 formation that saw Higuain lead the Turin giants’ attack.

But it was Dybala, whose only previous Champions League goal this campaign came in a 4-0 win at Dinamo Zagreb last September, who had the majority of the chances.

The Argentinian had spoken on Monday of his desire to add to his tally in Europe, but fired wide twice in the opening stages as the hosts set the tone.

At the other end, Brazilian Francisco Soares curled directly into Gianluigi Buffon’s arms, but it was one of too few opportunities for the visitors.

Mario Mandzukic’s header was smothered by Spanish goalkeeper Casillas, who was making a record 175th appearance in European competition.

The imposing Croatian forward went closer with a header whistling wide of the far post from a corner, before Pereira flew to save Higuain’s shot with his hand after Alex Sandro’s header was parried by Casillas.

That left the visitors a man down and Dybala made no mistake from the spot to claim his third goal in the competition.

Juve could have had a second goal just after the restart but Casillas produced a fine reflex save at his near post to stop a wayward header by Porto midfielder Danilo.

Minutes later Buffon rushed out to close down Soares after he escaped Sandro to fire an angled shot wide of the ‘keeper’s far post.

Allegri replaced Juan Cuadrado with Pjaca for the start of the second half and the Croatian starlet saw an angled effort spin past Casillas’s far post after he controlled well under pressure on the edge of the area.

Higuain, on 66 minutes, then fired just wide after holding off two markers in the area in what was Juve’s last real chance to add to their tally.