Read Paul Doyle's match report
Here’s the exceedingly likeable Kelechi Iheanacho
“We did it together, the team. It’s not a one-man show. I’m happy with the way we stuck together and that I was in the right place at the right time The partnership between Jamie and me is outstanding - he’s got the pace, he’s got everything. He’s a great player and he set up the goal. I think the FA Cup loves me, and I love the FA Cup!
“I’ve been unlucky the past few years, but it’s working out really well now and I need to keep working hard to go to the next level. I can’t wait for the final - wow, it’ll be amazing.”
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Brendan Rodgers, usually so reserved, can’t stop beaming as he embraces his players. This is a lovely reward for the exceptional work he has done in two years at Leicester. The man’s a class act.
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Full time: Leicester 1-0 Southampton
Peep peep! Leicester are into the FA Cup final for the first time since 1969! The brilliant Kelechi Iheanacho’s second-half goal, his 10th in the last seven games, settled a cagey match at Wembley. There wasn’t much in it – the goal was the only shot on target - but Leicester had just a bit more penetration in attack.
Southampton worked very hard and ran out of puff after about 70 minutes. Leicester will face Chelsea here on 15 May, with the chance to win the competition for the first time in their history.
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90+4 min Fraser Forster is forward. Ward-Prowse’s free-kick is unusually dreadful, straight into the arms of Schmeichel. And that’s it!
90+3 min Vestergaard is now playing centre-forward, and why not. He is fouled by Evans 40 yards from goal. This is Southampton’s last chance...
90+2 min Iheanacho beats two defenders on the edge of the area and has a shot blocked by Salisu.
90+1 min Bednarek is booked for a poor tackle on Vardy.
90 min There will be four minutes of added time. Southampton don’t look like scoring at the moment.
87 min Southampton are really struggling to get any attacking momentum. It’s starting to look like Leicester v Chelsea; I wonder who the neutrals would support.
85 min And another: Mohamed Salisu comes on for Ryan Bertrand. I guess that means a switch to a back three.
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84 min Another change for Southampton: Nathan Tella replaces Kyle Walker-Peters.
84 min Maddison stabs a classy pass through to Vardy, who is fractionally offside.
82 min Southampton had an excellent spell just after going behind, but since then they have struggled to put Leicester under any pressure.
79 min Maddison receives possession 25 yards from goal, pushes the ball forward and hits a lovely rising drive that swerves just wide of the far post. That was almost a cracking goal.
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78 min Vardy again storms past Bednarek on the left. This time he tries to cut back inside, but Bednarek reacts smartly to poke the ball away.
77 min: Chance for Leicester! Iheanacho twists away from Ward-Prowse, moves to the edge of the D and plays in Maddison to his left. He lets the ball roll across his body but then lifts it over the bar with his left foot. That was lovely play from Iheanacho, who is more than just a goalscorer. His link play is really tidy.
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75 min Tielemans goes over after a challenge from Diallo, who has been booked. It looked pretty innocous, though the way Tielemans went down suggested otherwise. Chris Kavanagh is happy that it is just a free-kick.
73 min According to our stats, which are sometimes correct, Iheanacho’s goal was the only shot on target in the entire match.
73 min Southampton bring on Theo Walcott for Moussa Djenepo
70 min For a player whose confidence in front of goal is through the floor, Jamie Vardy has had a terrific game. His movement and hold-up play have been exemplary. He has developed so much as a footballer.
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69 min Another Leicester change: James Maddison replaces Ayoze Perez.
67 min Ings tries to press Schmeichel and is eased to the canvas by Soyuncu. No foul is given, and Soyunucu is a little fortunate, not least because he has already been booked.
64 min Armstrong’s cross is headed away to the edge of the area, where Diallo twists his body to crack an excellent shot that swerves just wide of the post. Schmeichel didn’t move.
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62 min Ndidi loses the ball in a dangerous area to Armstrong, who slides it through to Ings in the area. He doesn’t shoot first time, possibly put off by a potential challenge by Soyuncu on his outside, and then tries a backheel across the six-yard box that is blocked. I’m very surprised he didn’t hit that straight away.
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61 min Adams has a shot blocked by Evans, then Diallo wafts over from 25 yards.
60 min And now a Leicester substitution: Marc Albrighton replaces Ricardo Pereira.
59 min A Southampton change: Che Adams replaces Nathan Redmond.
58 min Djenepo appeals unsuccessfully for a penalty when his cross hits the arm of Fofana. It was tight to his body and VAR doesn’t intervene.
56 min There was a bit of fortune with the goal - Iheanacho’s first shot was going off target, and I’m not sure Vardy was trying to pick him out in the first place. I have a feeling he was looking for Castagne, who was unmarked just inside the area.
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The goal was made superbly by Vardy, who scorched past Bednarek on the left and moved into the area. He cut the ball back towards the near post, where Iheanacho twisted his body to sidefoot a volley at goal. It was going well wide but hit Vestergaard and rebounded straight to Iheanacho, who finished calmly at the second attempt.
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GOAL! Leicester 1-0 Southampton (Iheanacho 55)
Kelechi Iheanacho’s golden run continues!
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54 min Nothing to report, I’m afraid.
52 min The last FA Cup semi-final to go to penalties, since you asked, was Arsenal v Wigan in 2014.
50 min Ward-Prowse’s free-kick is headed over by Vestergaard, who jumped a fraction too early as was on the way down when he made contact.
49 min Soyuncu is booked for fouling Walker-Peters on the right wing. This is another chance for Ward-Prowse to work his dead-ball magic.
Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
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48 min Southampton have made a lively start to the second half, pressing more aggressively in the Leicester half.
46 min Peep peep! Southampton begin the second half.
Half-time reading
Half time: Leicester 0-0 Southampton
Peep peep! A cautious first half ends goalless. The out-of-form Jamie Vardy missed a very good chance for Leicester, but there wasn’t too much else to report.
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45 min One minute of added time.
44 min Tielemans’ corner is flicked on by Ndidi, then headed dangerously back across goal by Jonny Evans at the far post. Vardy, Bednarek and Ings all go up for the header, a couple of yards out, and the ball hits somebody before looping onto the roof of the net. I thought Bednarek jammed it against Vardy, but another corner has been given. Tielemans swings this one straight out of play on the far side.
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43 min Vardy scoots down the left and wins a corner off Walker-Peters. Tielemans strolls across to take it...
42 min A half chance for Ndidi, who heads Tielemans’ near-post corner onto the roof of the net.
38 min There have been no shots on target so far. That said, it has improved a peedie bit after a really cagey start.
36 min The falling Fofana makes a vital headed clearance on the six-yard line, with Djenepo waiting behind him.
35 min Ward-Prowse drives a training-ground corner hard and low to the near post, where Bertrand completely mistimes his first-time shot. That was a chance, albeit a sharp one.
34 min: Vardy misses a great chance! Leicester should be ahead. Tielemans stole the ball off Diallo on the halfway line and angled a marvellous pass behind Bednarek to put Vardy through on goal. He stabbed the ball slightly away from goal with his left foot, an iffy first touch, and then chipped it wide of the near post as Forster came out. An in-form Vardy would have buried that.
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33 min This is a decent spell for Southampton, their best of the match so far.
32 min Walker-Peters is fouled by Perez, 30 yards from goal in the inside-right channel. Ward-Prowse curls in an excellent free-kick that is headed away well by Ndidi, under considerable pressure from Vestergaard.
30 min “I fear,” says Ian Copestake, “that the inspirational videos Herr Hasenhüttl had his players’ eyelids pulled back to watch were previously used to promote euthanasia in Soylent Green.”
29 min Ings falls over in the D after a challenge from Ndidi. Chris Kavanagh isn’t interested. I thought it was a dive on first viewing, and still do on second viewing.
27 min Perez, in the inside-left channel, plays a wall pass with Vardy and teases a first-time cross that just evades Iheanacho at the far post. That was really good play for Leicester.
25 min “Evening Rob,” says Stephen Carr. “You may recall my email earlier this week where I disclosed that within a few hours of opening, my local was crawling with police due to the activities some high-spirited patrons. With this in mind, I went further afield to Cheshire for a walk and a pint. Imagine my disgust to be informed that they’d run out of lager (both draft and bottled) and bitter. In this case, the grass most certainly was not greener. If this isn’t an ominously analogous comment on the recent S*per League developments, then I don’t know what is.”
24 min Vardy’s tame shot from the edge of the D dribbles through to Forster.
22 min If this goes to extra time and penalties, it’ll flipping intrude upon Line of Duty
21 min Ricardo lofts an excellent pass down the left to release Perez. He cuts into the area but then overruns the ball and is tackled by Vestergaard. That was a decent opportunity.
20 min Redmond’s deep cross from the right is miscued on the half volley by Ings, well beyond the far post. The angle was prohibitive so I think he was just trying to guide it back into the middle; it was a difficult ball to deal with.
18 min See 15 min. It’s not great, at least not yet.
15 min Nothing much is happening. Both teams look slightly too conscious of the occasion.
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12 min Leicester have been the better team so far, though there isn’t a huge amount in it.
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10 min Schmeichel charges from his area and just beats Ings to Djenepo’s ball over the top. Good goalkeeping, because Ings would have been through.
9 min “Good idea, Rob, keep the Super League nonsense out of this blog,” says Matt Dony. “Let’s just spend the time focusing on VAR, instead. Football makes itself so hard to love. 1995 Matt was OBSESSED with the Smashing Pumpkins. I’m genuinely sad that I will never love another album with the teenage intensity that I loved Mellon Collie And The Infinite Sadness. I still enjoy their music, and I could never actively feel negatively towards the band. But Billy Corgan has spent the last 20 years or so making it increasingly difficult. Rationally, I can recognise that he’s a colossal spanner. But I still love him. Football feels like it’s going the same way, sometimes...”
7 min Vardy is going to continue. He poked a loose ball away from Diallo, who was a fraction late and planted his studs into the side of Vardy’s leg.
6 min Vardy is still down after that tackle from Diallo.
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4 min An early half chance for Perez, who sidefoots well wide from 15 yards after good play by Tielemans. Diallo is booked for a foul on Vardy in the build up.
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1 min Peep peep! Leicester, in blue, kick off from right to left. Southampton are in their stylish Peru away strip.
It’s a beautiful evening at Wembley, and the players are applauded onto the field by actual, real-life human beings.
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Francis Benali is one of the BT Sport pundits, which is as good a reason as any to post this old favourite.
Anyway, let’s make this MBM a European Super League-free zone. This game is none of their business.
Pre-match reading
The teams in (probable) formation
Leicester City (3-4-1-2) Schmeichel; Fofana, Evans, Soyuncu; Castagne, Tielemans, Ndidi, Ricardo; Perez; Iheanacho, Vardy.
Substitutes: Ward, Amartey, Thomas, Choudhury, Mendy, Praet, Albrighton, Under, Maddison.
Southampton (4-4-2) Forster; Walker-Peters, Bednarek, Vestergaard, Bertrand; Armstrong, Ward-Prowse, Diallo, Djenepo; Redmond, Ings.
Substitutes: McCarthy, Stephens, Salisu, Jankewitz, Ferry, Tella, Walcott, Nlundulu, Adams.
Referee Chris Kavanagh.
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Team news
Semi-final team news 🦊🏆
— Leicester City (@LCFC) April 18, 2021
Brought to you by @eToro 🔵
Here's how the Foxes line up for #LeiSou 👇
Our #EmiratesFACup semi-final line-up 😇 pic.twitter.com/dXsHg8eeBO
— Southampton FC (@SouthamptonFC) April 18, 2021
Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of the FA Cup semi-final between Leicester City and Southampton at Wembley. This should have been the most uplifting occasion: a semi-final free of Big Six teams, with none of the usual entitlement and ennui, to be played in front of 4,000 supporters. But this vile European Super League story has darkened the mood.
Leicester are strongish favourites to reach their first FA Cup final since 1969. (Southampton’s last was in 2003.) But their form has dipped since that outstanding quarter-final victory over Manchester United, and they are up against dangerous opponents. Leicester’s 9-0 win at St Mary’s is part of the backstory to this game - but so is Southampton’s outstanding, cathartic 2-1 win at the King Power Stadium three months later. When Southampton are bad, they’re very, very bad. But when they’re good...
The winners will play Chelsea in the final, if Chelsea deign to share a football field with them.
Kick off 6.30pm.
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