Kelechi Iheanacho frustrated by Leicester’s missed FA Cup opportunity

Blackburn reached the FA Cup quarter-finals by beating Leicester.

Pa Sport Staff
Wednesday 01 March 2023 18:39 GMT
Comments
(Getty Images)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Kelechi Iheanacho admits Leicester City blew their FA Cup chance after a last-16 defeat to Blackburn Rovers.

Tyrhys Dolan and Sammie Szmodics scored to book Rovers a quarter-final spot for the first time in eight years with a 2-1 win on Tuesday.

Iheanacho grabbed a second-half consolation – meaning he has 18 goals in 24 FA Cup appearances – but knows the Foxes missed their chance.

“It’s so disappointing, especially at home,” he said. “It wasn’t good enough. If you don’t do what you need to do, you get punished. Obviously, that’s gone now, we need to look forward to the Premier League, but we need to do more.

“(For the goal) It was a good ball from Barnesy (Harvey Barnes), on the flank, taking it well and working the man, cutting it back. It was the right cross at the right time. Hopefully there’s more to come, but we’re out of the competition now.

“It’s a tough one to take. As I said, we need to do more, to stay in the league and get up there.”

Championship promotion chasers Blackburn have not reached the quarter-finals since 2015 but have now knocked out the Foxes, Norwich and Birmingham.

“We’re in the quarter-finals of the FA Cup and it’s unbelievable,” Szmodics told the club’s official site.

“It’s some feeling and it doesn’t get better than scoring against a Premier League side. Tyrhys probably has the same feeling as me.

“We could have been 4-0 or 5-0 up with the chances we had and we had to hang on towards the end. We showed a mature performance with our young team.

“With my goal I’ve got it stuck under my feet and I think it confused their defenders, there were a few touches in there, a couple of attempted tackles, but to see it hit the back of the net, there’s just no feeling like it.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in