Nigeria international Kelechi Iheanacho became the first player in to be awarded a goal by the Video Assistant Referee, VAR, in English football history, on Tuesday.
Iheanacho scored twice to inspire Leicester City to a convincing 2-0 defeat of Fleetwood in the FA Cup third round replay.
Second half underway.
It's 1️⃣-0️⃣ to the Foxes thanks to Iheanacho 😁
- Advertisement -
Listen live: https://t.co/kz0pcdYBg2#LeiFle pic.twitter.com/t72fDAP9Il
— Leicester City (@LCFC) January 16, 2018
After a goalless affair in the first leg, the Foxes were hoping to get the job done and quickly settled into their stride, taking command of the game at the King Power.
But their visitors remained very resolute and organised, giving little away.
Leicester continued to dominate possession, coming close through Adrien Silva and Riyad Mahrez but still couldn’t find a breakthrough.
They finally broke the deadlock, however, just before the break through Iheanacho.
Islam Slimani plays a beautiful through pass, which finds the ex-Man City man, who controls with a superb first touch before calmly putting the past the goalkeeper to hand the Foxes a 1-0 at the break.
The hosts continued from where they left off after the restart, asking several questions of their opponents.
With 13minutes to go, Iheanacho doubled their advantage following some brilliant play and movement from Silva and Mahrez.
But his effort would be ruled out for offside before it was reversed, in a dramatic turn of event by the VAR, which awarded a goal to give the home side a 2-0 lead.
It was the first time a goal has been given by the VAR in English history.
There was more history to be made by the 21-year-old Nigeria, as he also became the FA Cup’s first fourth substitute when he WS replaced later on.
The win sees Leicester through to the fourth round, where they take a trip to Peterborough next.
A beautiful night for Iheanacho, who has found game time difficult to come by at Leicester since his £25million switch from City last summer.
Hopefully, he kicks on from here, with the hope that his manager, Claude Puel, would give him more games to show his quality.
Talking about Puel, he was full of praise for the youngster, for ‘working hard’ for the team and team mates.
“Iheanacho showed a good attitude, worked hard for his teammates and got between the lines,” Puel said. “His first goal showed a lot of quality and the second was a fantastic move between him and @Mahrez22.”
CLAUDE: “@67Kelechi showed a good attitude, worked hard for his teammates and got between the lines. His first goal showed a lot of quality and the second was a fantastic move between him and @Mahrez22.” #LeiFle
— Leicester City (@LCFC) January 16, 2018
Meanwhile, while Iheanacho was having a good time for Leicester, his compatriot, Wilfred Ndidi was unused substitute, as he was rested by manager, Puel.
