Wes Morgan Becomes First Jamaican International to Score a Champions League Goal
Wes Morgan in the history books!
Wes Morgan rewrote the history books last night by becoming the inaugural Jamaican international to bag a Champions League goal.
And the Leicester City skipper’s 27th-minute strike got the ball rolling as the hosts saw off Sevilla with aplomb 2-0 to move into the last eight of the prestigious competition. Morgan admittedly knew very little about his goal that sent the King Power Stadium wild .
Riyad Mahrez’s free-kick into the crowded area was comically bundled in at the back post, which came off the inner thigh of former Jamaica skipper Morgan.
With a slender 1-0 lead, having lost 2-1 in Spain, it was enough to send the Foxes through to the quarter-finals as it stood at half-time.
Yet 10 minutes after the turnaround it was Mahrez who again turned goal provider, his cross headed to Marc Albrighton and from the edge of the box he directed his shot low past stunned keeper Sergio Rico.
Morgan’s men were handed a boost when ex-Arsenal ace Nasri was shown a second yellow card and given his marching orders on 74 minutes.
But four minutes later shotstopper Kasper Schmeichel brought down Spanish international Vitolo to concede a penalty, and he swiftly turned from villain to hero by diving to his left by pushing away Steven N’Zonzi’s tame spot-kick.
Leicester kept pushing for a further goal to kill off the tie, and were in cruise control against a side that are challenging giants Barcelona and Real Madrid to be crowned league champions.
Morgan won’t be bothered who is next as he will skipper his troops, over two legs, against either Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund, Juventus, Real Madrid and the winner of ties between Atletico Madrid and Bayer Leverkusen as well as AS Monaco and Manchester City.
Kingston-born Leon Bailey, the 19-year-old whizzy winger who moved to German outfit Bayer Leverkusen in January, has represented Jamaica just once and at Under-23 level – when he scored from a free-kick against the Cayman Islands.
Bailey, who bagged four Europa League goals for Belgium outfit Genk this term, could become the Jamaican-born player to score in the Champions League when he lines up against Atletico Madrid on Wednesday, as 33-year-old Morgan was born in Nottingham in England.
Morgan, who made his debut for Jamaica’s Reggae Boyz in 2013, said: “We’ll take who whoever comes in the (quarter-final) draw. It’s an incredible evening for the club and for our fans.”
He also told BT Sport: “I’m not sure if it will happen again but we did it,”
“We proved a lot of people wrong and pulled off the impossible again.”
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