The Nigerian striker stepped up to take the pressure penalty and get Leicester City back on terms against Wolves during a period when they were on the back foot
A “peaceful little chat” between Kelechi Iheanacho and Youri Tielemans helped Leicester City in what may be remembered as a season-defining moment.
The city was 1-0 down and on the ropes when a counter-attack saw Iheanacho play through Jamie Vardy, the number nine fouled in the box by Jose Sa, and a penalty awarded. With Vardy injured and unable to step up from 12 yards, City needed to find a new taker.
While Vardy received treatment, Iheanacho had the ball under his arm with Tielemans standing by the spot. Eventually, they came together to discuss who should step up and collectively decided it should be Iheanacho.
He kept his nerve to place the penalty past Sa and equalize, and from there, City regained their composure, leading to their first win in 10 matches, tasting victory for the first time since February.
Iheanacho said: “It was a peaceful little chat between me and Youri! In the end, we decided I should take it, so we did it together.
“He said: ‘Do you fancy it?’ and I said to him: ‘Do you fancy it?’ It was just a team-mates chat. It was supposed to be Vards but he was obviously not able to take it so we had a friendly chat.
“Yes, I was cool. I could have gone either way, but I chose my spot and it went in. We got the goal back so we were happy.
“The most important thing was we got the three points. Oh my God, it’s been a long time. It feels really good. It’s a breath of fresh air for the fans and the football club, for everybody. Everyone is happy. It feels good to get back to winning ways.
“We don’t need to stop now. We need to stay together to see it through to the end of the season. We’ve just got to try and keep the momentum going.”
While everybody contributed to City’s victory, Iheanacho reserved special praise for goalkeeper Daniel Iversen, who enjoyed his first Premier League win for the club on Saturday. The Dane made a late save to tip over Ruben Neves’ free-kick, one that Iheanacho thought was in from his position on the bench.
In fact, when the final whistle blew, Iheanacho ran straight to his goalkeeper to congratulate him, calling him a “life-saver”.
Iheanacho said: “People talk about strikers but obviously if you see what our goalkeeper did it was really important for us, to save the free-kick. It was nearly in. He made a great save so he was key to the win today.
“That was a lifesaver! Trust me. I was just running towards him because he did a great save. I recognized that. It was important for us for him to make the save.”
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