Community Shield 2021: Leicester City stun Premier League champions Manchester City with last gasp Iheanacho winner

Brendan Rodgers defied the odds again and led Leicester City to a stunning 1-0 victory against Manchester City at Wembley on Saturday afternoon.

A late penalty from Kelechi Iheanacho was the difference as the Foxes went on to clinch only their second Community Shield victory in the club’s history.

Jack Grealish, who completed a British record transfer from Aston Villa to Manchester City earlier in the week, made his debut for the Premier League champions on the 65th minute but not even his presence could steer Pep Guardiola’s men to victory.

At a glance: 5 key points:

Manchester City had won the Community Shield in four of their last five appearances before this one. Manchester City had also lost just two of their last 13 games at Wembley (W9 D2) with those defeats coming in consecutive FA Cup semi-finals defeats (2020 against Arsenal and 2021 against Chelsea). This was Leicester's third appearance in the Community Shield, beating Liverpool 1-0 in 1971, losing 2-1 against Manchester United in 2016 and now winning this one 1-0. This was just the second meeting between Leicester City and Manchester City at Wembley, with the Foxes losing the 1969 FA final 1-0. Pep Guardiola was hoping to win the Community Shield in honour of Michael Ballack’s 18-year-old son, Emilio Ballack who was tragically killed in a quad bike accident earlier in the week.

What has been said

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said: "Congratulations to Leicester. I am more than satisfied with how we played. Many things were really good, the young players were excellent.

"We got minutes for players so in general, many good things."

Winning Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers also had this to say: "There was a great feeling coming here today. Every Leicester player, fan, staff member coming here, it was a really special feeling.

"We wanted to take that into the game and keep that feeling going, and thankfully we've done that."

Background

Leicester earned the right for this one-off fixture following another stunning victory against Chelsea to lift the club’s first ever FA Cup back in May, while Man City won last season’s Premier League by 12 clear points ahead of second-placed Manchester United.

The Community Shield, which is traditionally seen as the curtain-raiser for the English domestic campaign, saw a return for fans after last season’s fixture was played behind closed doors due to the ongoing Coronavirus pandemic.

Both sides had opportunities to score in the first half, with Ilkay Gundogan forcing a brilliant save out of Kasper Schmeichel from a free-kick just on the edge of the box.

City keeper Zack Steffen also pulled off a stunning save to deny Jamie Vardy late in the first half, but the day belonged to Nigeria international Kelechi Iheanacho, who fired in an 89th minute penalty to leave Guardiola’s men disappointed.

Line ups

Manchester City: Zack Steffen, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake, Ilkay Gundogan, Ferran Torres, Benjamin Mendy, Fernandinho, Riyad Mahrez, Joao Cancelo, Sam Edozie, Cole Palmer.

Leicester City: Kasper Schmeichel, Caglar Soyuncu, Ryan Bertrand, Harvey Barnes, Youri Tielemans, Jamie Vardy, James Maddison, Ayoze Perez, Daniel Amartey, Ricardo Pereira, Wilfred Ndidi.

Up Next

Man City open their Premier League campaign on August 15th away to Tottenham, while Leicester travel to Wolves on August 14th.

Man City’s first three fixtures are against Tottenham, Norwich, and Arsenal, while Leicester’s first three matches are against Wolves, West Ham, and Norwich.

The two sides will then face off again at the King Power on September 11th.