Raphinha scores hat-trick in 100th appearance for Barca
Brazilian winger Raphinha celebrated his 100th appearance for FC Barcelona with a hat-trick goal against Bayern Munich in the Champions League encounter on Wednesday night.
Sevilla missed an early penalty but still managed to edge Premier League champions Leicester City 2-1 in their UEFA Champions League round-of-16 clash at the Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium on Wednesday night.
The home side dominated proceedings from the off, and won an early penalty but Kasper Schmeichel denied Joaquin Correa to preserve his clean sheet for the moment.
Sevilla were bombarding the away goal and finally found the breakthrough in the 25th minute, defender Sergio Escudero sending in a cross from the left which was headed in with precision by Pablo Sarabia.
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Jorge Sampaoli’s side continued to press for a double, but Schmeichel was immense in the Leicester goal as he kept the home side at bay with a series of vital stops.
Leicester went in at the break lucky to be trailing 1-0 as the Spanish side were in the ascendancy.
Post the interval, a similar pattern of Sevilla vs Schmeichel followed as Leicester struggled to fashion any meaningful chance.
Finally Schmeicel’s goal was breached for the second time, as Correa made amends for his penalty miss with a close-range finish after Stevan Jovetic had opened up the Leicester defence in the 62nd minute.
After going down two goals to the night, Leicester started getting a little adventurous and were rewarded with a priceless away goal in the 73rd minute when Jamie Vardy turned in Danny Drinkwater’s low cross at the far post.
Leicester’s away goal leaves the tie evenly balanced for the return leg, which is scheduled for the 14th of March at the King Power Stadium.
While Sevilla will still fancy their chances, one cannot count out Leicester till its over and they will push as hard as they can to keep their fairytale run alive.
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