The Super Eagles star came to the Foxes’ rescue to help them claim a vital result at the King Power
Super Eagles star Ademola Lookman was the hero for Leicester City, as his 67th-minute goal, which canceled Lorenzo Pellegrini’s first-half strike, was enough to secure a hard-fought 1-1 draw at home to AS Roma.
The Foxes played host to a Mourinho-tutored Roma to the King Power in the first leg of their Europa Conference League tie.
It was a vastly inexperienced Leicester City side who had never tasted the semifinals of a major European competition, unlike Roma, who had a two-time Champions League-winning coach in Mourinho.
The Foxes started on the front foot, but Roma took the initiative at the quarter-hour mark. Pellegrini received a brilliant pass from Nicolas Zalewski and struck home behind Kasper Schmeichel to make it 1-0 to the visitors.
Leicester City tried hard to restore parity in the first half, but most of their strikes were off the mark.
Vardy was pretty silent while he was in the game, and the only thing he could show for his troubles was a yellow card.
Vardy was taken off for Kelechi Iheanacho in the 62nd minute. And the introduction of the Nigerian star added some bite to the Leicester City forward line.
Five minutes after Iheanacho’s introduction, Brendan Rodgers’ lads got their breakthrough. Lookman was at the receiving end of a Harvey Barnes cross, and he brilliantly went past traffic to tuck the ball in the net.
Both sides had few chances before the final whistle, but they lacked the cutting edge in front of goal.
In the end, Lookman’s finish proved to be the crucial goal that gives Leicester City a fighting chance when they travel to Rome for the second leg next week.
