Leicester City vs Tottenham Hotspur. Premier League.
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Report and free match highlights as Harry Kane wins the Premier League Golden Boot after first-half equaliser; Leicester lead twice but Tottenham late scoring spree sees them to victory; Brendan Rodgers' side into Europa League, Spurs secure Europa League Conference place
Sunday 23 May 2021 23:03, UK
Leicester missed out on the Champions League for a second successive season after a 4-2 defeat to Tottenham on the final day saw them finish in fifth, while Spurs secured their European place.
The Foxes needed results to go their way elsewhere, but had to secure their own victory first to ensure the best possible chance of finishing in the top four.
It began well for them too as Leicester were awarded a penalty inside 15 minutes. Toby Alderweireld caught Jamie Vardy around the ankles, and the striker fired home from the spot (18). But just before half-time, Harry Kane (41) finished superbly to secure his third Premier League Golden Boot - the joint-highest number of wins in history with Thierry Henry and Alan Shearer - in possibly his last game for Tottenham.
The second half followed a similar pattern. Leicester were awarded a second penalty shortly after the break, won by Vardy again after a tangle with Davinson Sanchez. The striker scored in an almost identical fashion too, slotting home another confident penalty (52).
With Chelsea trailing Aston Villa and Leicester ahead, they were in pole position to finish in the Champions League places, but a late flurry from Tottenham condemned the Foxes to the Europa League. The second equaliser was a bizarre moment as a Heung-Min Son corner defected off Kasper Schmeichel's hand (76) and into the back of the net.
A Gareth Bale double (87, 90+6) then fired Tottenham into seventh, securing their own place in the Europa Conference League next season. They have also finished a point and place above Arsenal.
The result will be a bitter blow for Leicester, with Brendan Rodgers' side having spent the most nights in the top four this season. But they will again compete in the Europa League next term, finishing just a point behind Chelsea in fourth.
There were a few half chances for both sides in the early exchanges, but VAR soon showed itself. Vardy burst into the area and was caught by a dangling leg from Alderweireld. Referee Anthony Taylor initially waved away the claims but when play came to a halt, VAR reviewed the decision and sent Taylor to the screen.
After a brief look, the penalty decision was overturned as Vardy lined the ball. He sent Hugo Lloris the way wrong way with a confident penalty, scoring just his third goal in 27 games since Christmas.
But shortly after, Leicester suffered another defensive injury blow as Wesley Fofana was substituted. Having already been without Jonny Evans prior to the game, Wilfred Ndidi dropped back into the defence as Nampalys Mendy came on in midfield.
Lloris was tested again after the half-hour mark as Marc Albrighton hit a wonderful effort from range. It forced a leaping save from the Spurs goalkeeper, before his team-mates went close at the other end. Dele Alli picked out Son with a floated pass, but the forward took a heavy first touch. Unable to control on the turn, the ball was drifting towards a waiting Kane, but Caglar Soyuncu came storming through to see the ball away.
With four minutes of the half to play, Tottenham did find the net. Leicester could not clear a corner, with Matt Doherty's lifted cross back in pinging wildly off the head of Ndidi. Son collected the loose ball before sending it back into the area, deflected into Kane's path. It was then a sweet side-footed volley from the striker that powered through Kasper Schmeichel's legs as he pulled ahead in the Golden Boot race.
Six minutes after the break, and Leicester were awarded another penalty. Vardy went down in the area after tangling arms with Sanchez, with Anthony Taylor awarding it this time. VAR had a brief look to see if the foul began in the area, but it did not take long to approve the penalty. Vardy stepped up again, slotting home past Lloris again for 150th senior career goal.
Both sides had half chances as the game wore on, but three goals in the final 20 minutes from Tottenham saw them clinch a European spot. Their second equaliser came in the strangest of forms as Schmeichel came out to punch Son's corner away. But under pressure, he instead caught Sanchez before the ball pinged off his fist and diverted into the back of the net.
From then on, Tottenham piled on the pressure and finally took the lead as substitute Bale fired home. Kane collected a superb slotted pass from Son, with Leicester calling for a handball as he controlled the ball. But play continued, Kane dancing into space before picking out Bale at the top, and the Welshman fired home past Schmeichel.
As he wheeled away to celebrate, the Leicester players surrounded the referee to plead their case, but after a brief VAR check, it was deemed that any handball had not happened close enough to the goal being scored and it stood.
Leicester thought they had levelled things up on the stroke of 90 minutes, but Iheanacho's smuggled effort over the line was ruled out for offside. In the final minute of the game, Bale ensured three points would come back to North London.
Soyuncu's clearance pinged off Youri Tielemans from close range in midfield, before falling to the feet of Bale. He then drove into the area, almost being offered a path through by the Leicester defence, before poking the ball into the far corner.
If Sunday was to be Kane's final game for Tottenham, he has bowed out with more of the individual awards. His 23rd goal of the season was taken wonderfully when there wasn't much space or time to think, and it clinched him a third Premier League Golden Boot.
He also provided the assist for Bale's first goal that fired Tottenham ahead, also topping the table for the most assists this season - an incredible achievement.
Kane was also involved in the most duels (8) and aerial duels (8) than any other player in the game, helping Tottenham to finish in seventh.
Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers: "We said before that if we didn't make it, we'd be disappointed. We were twice up in the game, we struggled without the presence of Wesley, who went off early, and Jonny (Evans) not being in there.
"It hurts at the moment and probably will do for a few days. But when I look back overall and reflect on what the players have given, despite the obstacles we've had, I'll have great pride in what they've achieved.
"They've battled and with the players that we've had out that make a difference for us, we've kept it going until the very end. There's huge disappointment now, but also pride in how we've fought until the very end.
"I've always said it - we deserve to finish fifth over the course of the 38 games. I don't go with the one that we deserve to be there because we've been there for so many weeks, that doesn't really matter. Top four is being there at the end of the season.
"Our test and challenge is can we arrive in the top six. Where we're at and what we're competing with is some of the biggest and best clubs in world football. On a football front, we're there to compete and to fight and that's what we'll look to do.
"The young squad, they've got that taste of winning and it's always hard to win in the Premier League and win the trophies, but we're here to fight and we push and improve on and off the pitch.
"We put up an incredible fight to finish there [in the top four] against some huge teams and we were ahead of teams that should be in there. We'll come back next year hoping to disrupt the top six again."
Tottenham interim manager Ryan Mason: "It's not where we want to be. We want to be higher up and competing in the big competitions but we are in Europe for another season. We respect that any competition and we'll go into it with full respect.
"I'm sure there are a lot of things [that haven't put Tottenham where they want to be], probably things that happened before I was here. But what I can tell you is that in the five weeks I've had, there are professionals in there that want to work for the club, fight for the club. I think we've seen today the effort to keep competing, to keep running and of course, we have the quality as well.
"I'm pleased to finish in this way, especially after Wednesday, which was difficult for us to have it in our own hands and lose that. We responded and did all we could today so we have to take some positives from that.
"Obviously there was a lot riding on it for both teams. We felt that and I think at times in the second half we used that to our benefit.
"I'm going to have some time to relax and reflect on what has been a crazy five weeks, but five weeks I have enjoyed and feel honoured to be a part of."
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