Classic Matches: Leicester City vs Manchester United, Barclays Premier League, 21st September 2014

An early sign of things to come…

On 21st September 2014, Leicester City would host Manchester United at the King Power Stadium in both teams’ 5th match of the 2014-15 Premier League season. After a decade away, Leicester City were five matches into their Premier League return, having recently won promotion back into English football’s top division. Meanwhile, Manchester United were five games into the reign of new manager Louis van Gaal, one of the most successful coaches in European football history. A total of 3,813 days had passed between the last meeting in any competition between these two teams, and Manchester United would head into this game unbeaten in 11 matches against the Foxes. Both sides went into the game with matching Premier League records and points totals, but this match would not ultimately end in a draw. Instead, these two teams would produce one of the matches of the season. In fact, this match would end up defining these two teams not just for the 2014-15 season but the season afterwards. So read on and find out why the game between Leicester City and Manchester United from 21st September 2014 is rightly remembered today as a ‘Classic Match’.

Before The Match

Manchester United

After the disastrous eight-month tenure of David Moyes and the five-match caretaker stewardship of Ryan Giggs, the Manchester United board would look to the upcoming 2014 FIFA World Cup for the manager that could help right the Old Trafford ship after a troublesome 2013-14 season. After this tournament, Netherlands national team manager Louis van Gaal would be the man to take over the biggest job in world football.

The 62-year-old van Gaal would bring 23 years of managerial experience to Old Trafford, having previously coached Ajax, Barcelona (x2), AZ Alkmaar, Bayern Munich and the Netherlands national team (x2). These tenures had produced a combined 20 trophies across three countries, including seven league titles (4x Eredivisie, 2x La Liga, 1x Bundesliga), three domestic cups (KNVB Cup, Copa Del Rey, DFB-Pokal), and four domestic Super Cups (4x Johan Cruyff Shield, 1x DFL-Supercup). His time at Ajax had seen him triumph in multiple continental competitions, winning the UEFA Cup in 1992 and the UEFA Champions League, UEFA Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup in 1995. At Barcelona, he would complete his collection of European continental trophies, winning the 1997 UEFA Cup Winners’ Cup before adding a second UEFA Super Cup later that year. He would even lead Bayern Munich to the 2010 UEFA Champions League Final. Finally, and most recently, he had taken the Netherlands to third place in the 2014 FIFA World Cup. With such a managerial CV, it is no surprise that Manchester United was interested.

The 2014 summer transfer window was an interesting one for Manchester United, to say the least, as eight players would arrive and twenty-one players would leave (twelve permanently). This window would see the permanent departures of club captain Nemanja Vidić (300 Manchester United appearances) to Inter Milan, Patrice Evra (379 apps) to Juventus, Rio Ferdinand (455 apps) to Queens Park Rangers and Danny Welbeck (142 apps) to Arsenal, as well as the loan departures of Nani (230 apps) to Sporting Lisbon and Javier Hernández (157 apps) to Real Madrid. Neither Nani nor Hernández would return to Manchester United following their loan spells. All of these men had played pivotal roles in the club’s past title successes. The sale of these players showed that Louis van Gaal wanted to create his own imprint upon Manchester United. However, with Ferdinand (36), Vidić (33), Evra (33) and Nani (30) moving into the twilight of their career, this summer was also a chance to inject fresh new blood into the Red Devils. The following signings made by van Gaal would prove this theory viable, as all the players who entered the club during this period were aged 26 or under.

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Louis van Gaal would begin his summer transfer business with the signings of 25-year-old Athletic Bilbao midfielder Ander Herrera for £29 million and 18-year-old Southampton left-back Luke Shaw for £27 million. In three seasons at Bilbao, Herrera had been a vital member of the squads managed by Marcelo Bielsa and Ernesto Valverde. In his 128 appearances, he had helped Los Leones reach the Copa del Rey and the UEFA Europa League finals and qualify for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in 16 seasons. Meanwhile in Luke Shaw, Manchester United was getting the most talked-about youngster in the country. Shaw had burst onto the scene as a 17-year-old during the 2012-13 Premier League season, playing 25 times as Southampton finished 14th. The following year, he missed just three Premier League matches as Mauricio Pochettino’s Saints finished 8th, their best league finish in 11 years. Shaw’s performances had seen the 18-year-old earn his first senior England caps and travel to the 2014 World Cup as part of Roy Hodgson’s 23-man squad, making one appearance.

After no action in July, Louis van Gaal would delay signing further players until late August, aside from the £1.5m spent on 18-year-old Serbian goalkeeper Vanja Milinković-Savić on 4th August. On 20th August, he would sign Argentine international centre-back Marcos Rojo from Sporting Lisbon for £16 million. Rojo had been an ever-present in the Argentina team that had reached the FIFA World Cup Final one month earlier. Six days later, van Gaal would sign another, more high-profile, member of that Argentina team. On 26th August, Manchester United would break their club transfer record to sign Real Madrid winger Ángel Di María for £59.7 million. Di María had won everything in his five seasons at the Bernabeu, including La Liga, the Copa del Rey (x2), Supercopa de España, UEFA Super Cup and the UEFA Champions League. Di María was even named the man-of-the-match in Real Madrid’s 4-1 win over city rivals Atlético the previous May.

After this coup, van Gaal would land another big name on transfer deadline day, signing Colombian striker Radamel Falcao on a season-long loan from AS Monaco. Falcao had been one of European football’s most prolific strikers of the decade, scoring 104 goals in 139 matches for FC Porto, Atlético Madrid and Monaco and netting in back-to-back UEFA Europa League final victories in 2011 and 2012 for the former two clubs. With the dual signings of Di María and Falcao, Manchester United’s forward line, which also included Wayne Rooney and Robin van Persie, was looking particularly menacing at this early stage of the new Premier League season.

Louis van Gaal would complete his summer business with two Ajax players, also on transfer deadline day. First, he would turn to his World Cup squad, bringing utility player Daley Blind for £14 million. Blind, son of Danny, had won four consecutive Eredivisie titles in Amsterdam, while Louis van Gaal had given him his first 18 Netherlands caps beginning in 2013. Secondly, 16-year-old defender Timothy Fosu-Mensah would sign for an undisclosed fee straight out of the Ajax academy. At the end of the summer transfer window, Louis van Gaal had spent £146 million trying to build a squad ready to challenge the upper reaches of the Premier League.

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Before the arrival of Rojo, Di María, Falcao and Blind, Manchester United would begin their latest Barclays Premier League campaign with a shock 2-1 home defeat to Swansea City. Ki Sung-Yeung would give the visitors a 28th-minute lead, but United captain Wayne Rooney would equalise in the 53rd minute. However, Gylfi Sigurðsson’s 72th-minute effort would give Swansea the victory and their first-ever league win at Old Trafford. More importantly, the Swansea loss would mark the first time that Manchester United had lost an opening-day game since 1972. After this reverse, Louis van Gaal’s unimpressive start to the Premier League would continue as the Red Devils would earn back-to-back draws against Sunderland (1-1) and newly-promoted Burnley (0-0). The Burnley match would see the debut of Ángel Di María in a Manchester United shirt. Despite what the scoreline read, the talk after the game would centre around an impressive debut for the Argentina international.

After an exciting debut, Di María would play a crucial role in United’s 4-0 win over another newly-promoted team in Queens Park Rangers. The winger would open the scoring with a direct free-kick after 24 minutes, and fellow new signing Ander Herrera would double United’s advantage twelve minutes later. Wayne Rooney would ensure that the match was over by half-time with a third goal in the 44th minute before Di María would set up Juan Mata to score Manchester United’s fourth in the 58th minute. This win would leave Louis van Gaal’s team 9th in the Barclays Premier League standings heading into their next match away at Leicester City, with one win, two draws and one defeat giving the Red Devils five points from their first four matches. It hadn’t been a great start to the new season, but with Ángel Di María beginning to work his magic on the team, things seemed to be falling into place for Louis van Gaal and his Manchester United team.

Leicester City

The 2014-15 season would see Leicester City play their first Premier League football season in a decade. After a turbulent ten years that had seen ten managerial changes, two different owners, relegation to League One, an immediate return to the Championship and two dramatic playoff exits, the previous season saw the Foxes finally earn Premier League promotion. Led by manager Nigel Pearson, Leicester City had broken several club records en-route to top-flight promotion, including most league victories in a single season (31), home wins in a single season (17), consecutive league wins (9), and consecutive away wins (5). The campaign also saw the team embark on a thirteen-match unbeaten streak away from home (13) and score in 31 successive league matches. All these records would lead to Leicester claiming the Championship title with a club record points total of 102, nine points ahead of 2nd-placed Burnley. The 2013-14 triumph was also Leicester City’s seventh Second Division/First Division/Championship title success (after previous victories in 1925, 1937, 1954, 1957, 1971 and 1980), putting them level with Manchester City in the second-division record books.

After promotion, Leicester’s summer transfer business had seen them add Premier League experience to their squad, in addition to a couple of the Championship’s best performers and an eye-catching signing or two. Beginning with the top-flight experience, winger Marc Albrighton (86 appearances) and former England international centre-back Matthew Upson (285 apps) would arrive from Aston Villa and Brighton at the start of July 2014. Also joining them were Charlton goalkeeper Ben Hamer and Manchester United youngsters Jack Barmby (striker) and Louis Rowley (centre-back). The signings of Barmby and Rowley were no surprise, considering Leicester’s previous success with turning former United academy graduates Ritchie De Laet, Danny Drinkwater and Matty James into first-team regulars.

The Foxes’ last incoming transfer before the new Premier League campaign was a significant one. On 22nd July, Argentine striker Leonardo Ulloa would join his fellow Brighton teammate Matthew Upson at the King Power Stadium for a club-record £8 million. Ulloa had scored 23 goals in 50 appearances for Brighton over the previous one-and-a-half seasons, including a brace in a 4-1 away win over Leicester on 8th April 2014, a result that ended the Foxes’ 21-match unbeaten streak.

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After the signing of Ulloa, the Foxes would remain quiet on the transfer front until the final days of the window. However, on 28th August, they would pull a rabbit out of the hat by signing the 34-year-old defensive midfielder and former 52-cap Argentina international Esteban Cambiasso. Cambiasso had spent the previous twelve years filling his trophy cabinet with both Real Madrid and Inter Milan. In two years at Real Madrid, he had won La Liga, the UEFA Super Cup, the Supercopa de España (Spanish Super Cup) and the Intercontinental Cup. Then, after joining Inter in 2004, Cambiasso had won fifteen trophies with the Nerazzurri, including five consecutive Serie A titles (2005/06-2009/10), four Coppa Italia (2005, 2006, 2010, 2011), four Supercoppa Italiana (2005, 2006, 2008, 2010) and the 2010 editions of both the UEFA Champions League and the FIFA Club World Cup. He was part of the team that won the treble under the management of José Mourinho during the 2009-10 season, and he was the man who finished off Argentina’s iconic 24-pass goal against Serbia and Montenegro in the 2006 World Cup group stages. Upon his arrival at the King Power Stadium, Esteban Cambiasso was the most decorated Argentine footballer in history. For newly-promoted Leicester City to sign him as a free agent was a massive coup for Nigel Pearson.

After Cambiasso, Nigel Pearson would sign more Premier League experience in Queens Park Rangers right-back Danny Simpson (100 appearances) before completing his summer transfer business by signing striker Tom Lawrence, another Manchester United academy graduate.

Leicester City would enter the match against Manchester United on 21st September, having also earned five points from their first four Premier League matches. The Foxes would begin their first Premier League campaign in ten years with an entertaining 2-2 draw at home to Everton. Irish winger Aiden McGeady would put the Toffees in front after 20 minutes, but Leonardo Ulloa would equalise with a goal on his Foxes debut two minutes later. Steven Naismith would re-take the lead for Everton on the verge of half-time, and Roberto Martínez’s team, who had finished 5th the previous season, would maintain their one-goal advantage late into the match. However, Leicester substitute Chris Wood would pop up with an 86th-minute equaliser to ensure that Leicester City earned an impressive point on their Premier League return.

The following week, a 2-0 defeat away at José Mourinho’s Chelsea would bring the Foxes back to earth following the Everton game, but a 1-1 home draw against Arsenal on transfer deadline day would leave City’s fans purring with satisfaction. Then, in their last match before facing Manchester United, Leicester City would earn their first top-flight win in 3,784 days by beating Stoke City 1-0 on 13th September. Leonardo Ulloa would score his second Leicester goal after 64 minutes to give Nigel Pearson’s team the three points. After four matches, Leicester City sat 12th in the Barclays Premier League table after one win, two draws and one loss.

Barclays Premier League Table Before 20/21 September 2014

Position	Team	Played	Wins	Draws	Losses	GF	GA	GD	Points
9th	Manchester United	4	1	2	1	6	3	3	5
10th	Hull City	4	1	2	1	5	5	0	5
11th	Everton	4	1	2	1	9	10	-1	5
12th	Leicester City	4	1	2	1	4	5	-1	5

The Match

Before 21st September 2014, the last time Manchester United had travelled away to Leicester City for a Premier League match was 27th September 2003. On that day, the defending Premier League champions would thrash Micky Adams’ newly-promoted Foxes 4-1. Manchester United captain Roy Keane would get the ball rolling, scoring the first goal after 15 minutes. One minute later, star striker Ruud van Nistelrooy would double United’s lead before making it 3-0 a minute before half-time. In the second half, van Nistelrooy would complete his hat-trick before Frank Sinclair would score Leicester’s consolation goal in the 73rd minute. A 19-year-old Darren Fletcher had started and played the full 90 minutes in that encounter. Almost 10 years later, Fletcher was on the Manchester United bench for this trip to the King Power Stadium.

For this game, both Nigel Pearson and Louis van Gaal would choose to tinker with winning sides. Pearson would make four changes from the side that beat Stoke 1-0 eight days earlier. Kasper Schmeichel would replace Ben Hamer between the posts. At the same time, Jamie Vardy and Esteban Cambiasso would come in for Riyad Mahrez and Jeffrey Schlupp, with both men making their first-ever Premier League starts. Finally, Danny Drinkwater would take the place of Andy King in central midfield. These changes would alter Leicester’s formation from a 4-4-2 to a 4-3-3. Cambiasso would slot in alongside Dean Hammond and Andy King in midfield and Jamie Vardy would start on the left side of a front three with David Nugent on the right and Leonardo Ulloa in the middle. Meanwhile, Louis van Gaal would alter the team that defeated QPR 4-0 the previous Sunday, with Radamel Falcao replacing Juan Mata for his first-ever Premier League start. Falcao would partner Robin van Persie up front, while Wayne Rooney would move back to attacking midfield to accommodate the Colombian.

Manchester United’s starting XI had cost the club £141.53 million in transfer fees. Meanwhile, Leicester’s starters had cost £15.11m, and £8m of that was the cost of Leonardo Ulloa. Manchester United’s line-up had a combined 977 Premier League appearances. Leicester City’s had played 440 top-flight matches, and 324 of those belonged to left-back Paul Konchesky.

Starting Line-Ups

Leicester City			Manchester United
Formation (4-3-3)			Formation (4-4-2 Diamond)
Kasper Schmeichel	GK 1	GK 1	David De Gea
Ritchie De Laet	RB 2	RB 2	Rafael
Wes Morgan (capt.)	CB 5	CB 6	Jonny Evans
Liam Moore	CB 18	CB 42	Tyler Blackett
Paul Konchesky	LB 3	LB 5	Marcos Rojo
Dean Hammond	CM 7	DM 17	Daley Blind
Danny Drinkwater	CM 4	RM 21	Ander Herrera
Esteban Cambiasso	CM 19	LM 7	Ángel Di María
David Nugent	RW 35	AM 10	Wayne Rooney (capt.)
Leonardo Ulloa	CF 23	CF 9	Radamel Falcao
Jamie Vardy	LW 9	CF 20	Robin van Persie
	Substitutes	Substitutes
Ben Hamer	GK 12	GK 13	Anders Lindegaard
Marcin Wasilewski	CB 27	CB 12	Chris Smalling
Matty James	CM 8	LB 3	Luke Shaw
Andy King	CM 10	RB/RM 25	Antonio Valencia
Jeffrey Schlupp	LB/LM 15	CM 24	Darren Fletcher
Riyad Mahrez	RM 26	RM 11	Adnan Januzaj
Chris Wood	FW 39	AM 8	Juan Mata
Nigel Pearson	Manager	Manager	Louis van Gaal

After Leicester kicked off, Manchester United would take 101 seconds to first test City goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, son of United legend Peter. Rafael would send a deep cross into the Leicester box, but Schmeichel would run off his line and easily catch the ball. A minute later, Esteban Cambiasso would try to find a teammate from a 30-yard free-kick, only for the ball to evade everyone and drift past the far post. In the 5th minute, David Nugent would find Leonardo Ulloa at the back post, but the Argentine striker’s header would hit the head of Jonny Evans and go behind. From the resulting corner, Liam Moore would direct a header high and wide of the target. Leicester had enjoyed the best of the first few minutes but had only two attempts on goal to show for it.

In the 11th minute, Ángel Di María would carry the ball from the halfway line before sending Robin van Persie behind the Leicester defence. However, Kasper Schmeichel would use his left paw to palm away the Dutch’s striker lifted effort from close range. That shot was the closest either team had got to scoring at this early stage. Two minutes later, van Persie would come closer than close. He would score. Marcos Rojo would send a pass along the left flank, and Radamel Falcao would turn Leicester right-back Ritchie de Laet, carrying the ball to the edge of the box before chipping a ball towards the back post. An unmarked Robin van Persie would meet this ball, heading home his first goal of the season to give Manchester United the lead. Thirteen minutes played, and Manchester United was 1-0 up at the King Power Stadium. It would not take them long to double this advantage.

When a player is signed for a large amount of money, pundits and commentators often say that the player will need to pay it back by performing well at his new club, proving to the fans that he was the money initially spent on him. Fail to perform well, and experts say that the transfer fee hangs like a millstone around the player’s neck. In his first two Manchester United games before facing Leicester City, Ángel Di María had suggested that he would not take long to pay back the £59.7 million that Manchester United had paid to secure his services. In the 17th minute against Leicester, he would offer another reason to back up this opinion.

Three minutes after Robin van Persie’s opener, Di María would pick the ball up inside his own half and complete a one-two with Wayne Rooney, receiving the ball back centrally on the edge of the penalty area. Using his first touch to take the ball into his stride, Di María would stutter his run into the box before chipping the ball over Kasper Schmeichel into the net with his second touch. A goal so unique and extraordinary that anyone who witnessed it immediately pegged it as a potential goal-of-the-season contender, Di María’s chip could only be scored by a player worth £59.7 million. This superb strike was Manchester United’s second goal in three minutes, and Louis van Gaal’s side now led Leicester 2-0 inside 16 minutes. It already looked like it could be a long afternoon for Nigel Pearson’s Foxes.

However, after quickly falling 2-0 behind, Leicester City would take less than a minute to pull a goal back. Jamie Vardy would beat Marcos Rojo down the left flank delivering a cross from the by-line. His ball would find Leonardo Ulloa, who would take a step back before heading the ball past a stationary David De Gea to score the third goal in four minutes and bring the score back to 2-1.

After this flurry of goals, the next significant shot on target would not come until the 27th minute, as Daley Blind’s 25-yard volley from a partially-cleared corner would end up in the arms of a kneeling Kasper Schmeichel. In the 41st minute, Di María would receive the ball from a corner, but his 20-yard effort was off target from the moment it left his boot, heading further wide with each bounce along the turf. At half-time, Manchester United would lead Leicester City 2-1. Apart from the mad flurry of goals, the Red Devils had edged the first half in terms of possession and goalscoring chances. However, despite being behind on the scoresheet, Leicester was still in this match. Notably, the likes of Jamie Vardy and Leonardo Ulloa had provided a viable attacking threat to an inexperienced Manchester United defence.

HT: Leicester City 1 Manchester United 2

After the game kicked off again, Manchester United would quickly get back up to speed. A Wayne Rooney cross would clear Kasper Schmeichel’s crossbar, and Radamel Falcao’s half-volley one minute later would hit the bar with the Danish goalkeeper beaten. From the beginning of the second half, Manchester United would near-constantly threaten the Leicester City penalty area. They would get their reward in the 57th minute. After Rafael’s cross across the six-yard line had forced Kasper Schmeichel into a save, Robin van Persie would pick the ball and pass it to the arriving Ángel Di María. Di María would attempt a shot, and Ander Herrera would use the inside of his left foot to flick this shot past a wrong-footed goalkeeper and score Manchester United’s third goal of the afternoon. Manchester United had started the second half brightly and fully deserved to be 3-1 ahead. Twelve minutes into the second half, based on the balance of play, it looked like the away team were set to leave the King Power Stadium with all three points. How many goals they scored to achieve this was another matter entirely.

However, Leicester City would take just five minutes to register their response. Jamie Vardy would beat Rafael to a long ball into the Manchester United penalty area. The Brazilian right-back would respond by putting his arm into the back of the English striker, leading to Vardy losing his footing. Despite Manchester United’s protests of a dive, match referee Mark Clattenburg would award a penalty to Leicester City. David Nugent, Leicester’s top scorer the previous season, would step up to take the spot-kick. The 29-year-old, previously a Premier League player with Portsmouth and Burnley, would send his penalty to the other side of David De Gea to bring the Foxes back within one goal at 3-2.

Two minutes later, a sixth goal hit the back of the net, but instead of a fourth for Manchester United, it was a Leicester City equaliser. Ritchie De Laet’s attempted pass into the box would rebound off the foot of Jamie Vardy into the path of Esteban Cambiasso. Without delay, the veteran midfielder would quickly step forward and fire the ball past David De Gea before any Manchester United defender had fully reacted to the situation. In three minutes, Leicester City had come from being 3-1 behind to draw level with the 13-time Premier League champions.

After the 70th minute, both Nigel Pearson and Louis van Gaal would both make two quick substitutions within minutes of each other. Pearson would bring on Andy King for Esteban Cambiasso, the veteran having scored his first goal in English football (71′), before sacrificing striker David Nugent for another midfielder in Matty James (75′). These changes would revert Leicester into a 4-4-2 formation, with Jamie Vardy and Leonardo Ulloa as the two forwards. Meanwhile, Louis van Gaal would take off his two superstar signings, replacing Radamel Falcao with Adnan Januzaj (72′) and Ángel Di María with Juan Mata (76′). Januzaj would move to the right flank with Ander Herrera going to the left, while Wayne Rooney moved up front alongside Robin van Persie as Juan Mata took his place at the tip of the diamond midfield. During this period, the best goalscoring opportunity would come to Andy King. King, a Leicester academy graduate who had played for the Foxes in three different divisions after making his first-team debut in 2005, would receive the ball inside the United penalty area but would fire his shot past the far post.

In the 79th minute, Ritchie De Laet would dispossess Daley Blind 30 yards from the Leicester goal and carry the ball into the opposition half before finding Jamie Vardy unmarked in acres of space with three United defenders chasing him. With Tyler Blackett playing him onside, Vardy would chest the ball down before side-footing the ball past David De Gea to put Leicester City 4-3 ahead. The importance of this goal sent the noise of the home fans up another few decibels, with their celebrations causing the camera to visibly shake up and down. Three seasons earlier, Jamie Vardy had been playing non-league football with Fleetwood Town. Now, the 28-year-old had scored his first-ever Premier League goal and put Leicester City 11 minutes away from perhaps the most significant victory in their history.

Three minutes after his goal, Jamie Vardy was at it again, chasing down a long ball, as the Manchester United defence went missing. As Vardy ran into the box, young defender Tyler Blackett, making just his fourth senior appearance for Manchester United, would tackle the Leicester City striker from behind, earning the Foxes another penalty. In addition to awarding the penalty, Mark Clattenburg would issue a straight red card to the 20-year-old centre-back. With David Nugent off the field, Leonardo Ulloa would deputise as Leicester’s penalty taker on this occasion. This time, David De Gea would guess the right way but could not stop Ulloa from beating him at his near post. The score after 83 minutes: Leicester City 5 Manchester United 3. After being 2-0 down after 16 minutes and 3-1 behind after 57 minutes, Leicester had scored four goals without reply in 21 minutes to completely turn the tide of this match.

After the fifth goal, Nigel Pearson would take off Jamie Vardy, with the striker receiving a standing ovation after a man-of-the-match display. His replacement Jeffrey Schlupp would almost score Leicester’s sixth goal in the 87th minute, but his shot would swerve past the post. In the first minute of stoppage time, Ander Herrera would try for Manchester United’s fourth, but his volley would end up in the safe grasp of Kasper Schmeichel.

After 96 minutes of action, Mark Clattenburg would blow the final whistle, sending Leicester City fans into dreamland. The Foxes had beaten Louis van Gaal’s Manchester United 5-3, their first win over the Red Devils since a 1-0 win at Old Trafford back in January 1998. It was their first home win over Manchester United in any competition since a League Cup victory in November 1996 and a first home league win since November 1985. However, the overall scoreline and how they defeated the 13-time Premier League champions would mark this victory as perhaps the best in Leicester City’s 130-year history. The size and shocking nature of this result would completely dwarf the other major news story that occurred on 21st September 2014. In a match between Manchester City and Chelsea, Blues legend Frank Lampard would score an 85th-minute equaliser against Chelsea to end the game in a 1-1 draw.

FT: Leicester City 5 Manchester United 3

For Manchester United, the shocking defeat would produce a few negative statistics. The 5-3 loss marked just the 14th time in Premier League history that the Red Devils had conceded four or more goals in a match, and the first time they had conceded four or more against a newly-promoted team. Most significant of all, this loss was the first time Manchester United had ever lost a Premier League game after holding a two-goal lead.

Leicester City’s win would spring them up the Barclays Premier League table from 12th to 7th. The Foxes would end this weekend level on eight points with defending Premier League champions Manchester City, continuing an encouraging start to their top-flight return. Meanwhile, Manchester United’s loss, and positive results for West Ham and Hull City, saw Louis van Gaal’s team drop from 9th down to 12th. At this point, the 13-time champions had won just five points from their opening five Premier League matches after one win, two draws and two defeats.

Barclays Premier League Table At End of 21st September 2014

Position	Team	Played	Wins	Draws	Losses	GF	GA	GD	Points
7th	Leicester City	5	2	2	1	9	8	+1	8
8th	West Ham	5	2	1	2	9	8	+1	7
9th	Tottenham	5	2	1	2	7	6	+1	7
10th	Hull City	5	1	3	1	7	7	0	6
11th	Liverpool	5	2	0	3	7	8	-1	6
12th	Manchester United	5	1	2	2	9	8	+1	5

Aftermath

Manchester United

After such a shocking and humbling defeat, Manchester United would respond quickly and positively, winning their next two matches against West Ham and Everton 2-1. Following draws against West Brom (2-2) and Chelsea (1-1) to end October and a 1-0 defeat in the Manchester derby to begin November, Manchester United would end 2014 on a nine-game unbeaten streak. These results would see the Red Devils finish the year 3rd in the Premier League standings. Following the New Year, Louis van Gaal’s team would begin 2015 by losing just 2 out of 13 league matches between 1st January and 12th April. Two highlights from this run would be a 2-1 win over Liverpool at Anfield on 22nd March and a 4-2 home victory over Manchester City on 12th April.

With six matches remaining, Manchester United sat 3rd in the Premier League table, eight points adrift of leaders Chelsea, but four points ahead of Manchester City in 4th. A 1-0 defeat to Chelsea on 18th April would end Manchester United’s slim title chances and begin a run of three straight losses, which would see Louis van Gaal’s men suffer defeat at the hands of Everton (0-3) and West Brom (0-1). This trio of losses would drop the Red Devils down to 4th and put them under pressure from Liverpool four points beneath them. However, a better set of results from their final three matches would see United confirm their place in the following season’s Champions League. A 2-1 win over Crystal Palace would give Manchester United a six-point buffer over Brendan Rodgers’ Reds, and despite draws with Arsenal (1-1) and Hull City (0-0), the team would secure their top-four position with a game to spare.

Leicester City

Following their historic victory over Manchester United, Leicester would start a 13-game winless streak, a run that would drop them to the bottom of the table on Christmas Day. Leicester would temporarily halt their slide with a 1-0 win over Hull City on 28th December 2014 but would win just 1 of their next 10 matches between 1st January and 21st March.

On 31st January 2015, in the middle of this bad run of form, Leicester would travel to Old Trafford to face Manchester United in the reverse fixture. On this day, United would get their revenge, beating the Foxes 3-1. This match was effectively over by half-time, as goals from Robin van Persie, Radamel Falcao, and an ‘own goal’ from Leicester captain Wes Morgan would give Louis van Gaal’s team a 3-0 lead at the break. The only response the Foxes could muster was an 80th-minute consolation from centre-back Marcin Wasilewski.

With nine matches remaining of the 2014-15 season, Leicester City looked down and out. Three points adrift at the bottom of the table and seven points from safety, the prospect of relegation seemed a matter of when, not if, it occurred. However, Leicester would soon pull off the greatest ‘escapes’ in Premier League history, winning seven, drawing one and losing one (to leaders Chelsea) of their last nine matches to assure their top-flight survival with one game to spare. A 5-1 final-day win over already-relegated Queens Park Rangers would see Leicester City finishing the 2014-15 season 14th in the Premier League table, six points clear of the relegation zone.

Manchester United and Leicester City-2014-15 Final Premier League records

Position	Team	Played	Wins	Draws	Losses	GF	GA	GD	Points
4th	Manchester United	38	20	10	8	62	37	+25	70
14th	Leicester City	38	11	8	19	46	55	-9	41

2015-16 season

The next time Leicester City and Manchester United faced off in the Premier League at the King Power Stadium on 28th November 2015, just one point separated the two teams in the Barclays Premier League standings. Despite the one season difference, just thirteen men remained from the twenty-eight that took to the field in that 5-3 defeat. For Leicester City, Kasper Schmeichel, Wes Morgan, Danny Drinkwater and Jamie Vardy would start, while Ritchie De Laet, Andy King, Jeffrey Schlupp and Leonardo Ulloa began as substitutes. Meanwhile, David De Gea, Daley Blind and Wayne Rooney would remain from Manchester United’s starting XI on that fateful day. Chris Smalling and Juan Mata would also start this match, having come on as replacements the previous year. Rafael, Jonny Evans, Tyler Blackett (loan) and Robin van Persie had left Old Trafford for greener grasses. Radamel Falcao was now playing on loan at Chelsea, and Ángel Di María had left for PSG for £44 million after his bright start (Leicester chip included) had unravelled into a disastrous season for the winger. Now managed by Claudio Ranieri, Leicester was riding high as surprise Premier League leaders, having lost just one of their first thirteen matches. Manchester United sat 2nd in the table, having lost game more.

Considering how close these two teams were in the standings, it was no surprise that this top-of-the-table clash ended in a 1-1 draw. However, this day would become memorable for a reason other than the result. In the 24th minute of play, Jamie Vardy would smash the ball past David De Gea to score in a record 11th consecutive Premier League game, breaking the record held by Manchester United’s Ruud van Nistelrooy. However, this historic goal would only earn the Foxes a point, as Bastian Schweinsteiger’s first Manchester United goal would ensure that both teams left with a point.

Five months later, the two teams would meet again at Old Trafford in very different circumstances. Manchester United now sat 5th in the Premier League table, five points off the Champions League placings and needed to better the results of Manchester City and Arsenal above them to secure their place in the top four. Meanwhile, Leicester City was still sitting atop the Premier League table, seven points ahead of fellow surprise title challengers Tottenham with three matches remaining. In fact, a win for Leicester at Old Trafford on 1st May would secure the Foxes their first-ever top-flight title with two games to spare.

Anthony Martial would give Manchester United an 8th-minute lead in this match, but Leicester City captain Wes Morgan would equalise nine minutes later. The rest of the game would be a tense affair, particularly for Leicester supporters. A goal for them would secure the Premier League title, and one against could lead to defeat and offer Tottenham the chance to close the points gap with victory over Chelsea the following night. Despite Leicester losing Danny Drinkwater to a second yellow card in the 87th minute, the match would end in a 1-1 draw like the season’s earlier encounter. Leicester City would extend their gap to Spurs to eight points ahead of their game the next day, and Manchester United would move within four points of 4th-placed Manchester City with Louis van Gaal’s team holding a game in hand over their city rivals.

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The day after this match, Tottenham would draw 2-2 with Chelsea, conceding the Premier League title to Leicester City with two games remaining, completing one of the most remarkable stories in sporting history. While Leicester would end the 2015-16 season as the most unlikely of Premier League champions, Manchester United would finish in 5th place, out of the Champions League placings. The team would end the season with their first FA Cup victory in 12 years. Still, the prospect of Europa League football would cause the Old Trafford hierarchy to sack Louis van Gaal after two seasons in charge, appointing José Mourinho as his immediate replacement.

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Conclusion

Above the player’s tunnel, before the teams walk out onto the grass of the King Power Stadium, there is a sign bearing the Leicester City club motto: ‘Foxes Never Quit’. The starting XI, substitutes and coaching staff would all have seen that message when they walked out for their match with Manchester United on 21st September 2014. They clearly took that message to heart on this particular day. When most teams have fallen 2-0 behind to Manchester United after 16 minutes after two goals in three minutes, or 3-1 down after 57 minutes, they have not been able to recover their losses and have inevitably ended up on the losing side. Leicester City never gave up during this match. Even though they were behind for 51 consecutive minutes, they did not slacken in their efforts to get back into this match. After conceding two quick goals, the Foxes would pull one back within a minute. When they conceded a third, just five minutes would pass before they responded again before cutting loose and tearing Manchester United to shreds.

At the beginning of this article, I stated that this match would define the overall stories of both Leicester City and Manchester United for the next two seasons. For Leicester City, this 5-3 win serves as a 90-minute encapsulation of their 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. Looking certain to be relegated with nine matches left of the 2014-15 campaign, Leicester suddenly discovered their form, winning seven of their final nine games to attain survival when most other teams would have quietly accepted relegation by this point. In the summer of 2015, when a scandal forced Nigel Pearson to resign as manager, the unfancied Claudio Ranieri was hired as his replacement. With bookies predicting Leicester City as relegation favourites, issuing them with 5000-1 odds to win the Premier League title, the Foxes would come from the shadows and shock all the experts and bookmakers, pulling off the unlikeliest of Premier League title victories. When they were behind during these seasons, as they were against Manchester United, they never gave up, working hard and eventually got their rewards, shocking the world in the process.

For Manchester United, the 5-3 defeat to Leicester City serves as a definition of their fortunes since the retirement of Sir Alex Ferguson in 2013. A team that cannot maintain a consistent level of form across a whole 38-game Premier League season, resulting in eight years without the title. A side whose form swings from excellent to awful, resulting in famous victories and embarrassing defeats in equal measure. Talented players who can turn in a world-class performance one week and a Sunday League performance the next. Since 2013, Manchester United have won five trophies in eight seasons. Two of those are the Community Shield, which many fans, pundits and journalists do not count due to its status as a pre-season game. Not counting it, Manchester United have had three trophyless seasons since Sir Alex Ferguson’s retirement. Their last trophies, the League Cup and UEFA Europa League, came back in 2017. Even winning silverware could not save Louis van Gaal and José Mourinho from getting the sack after two and two-and-a-half seasons, respectively. Why? Because in the competition where it matters most, the Premier League, Manchester United have witnessed other teams’ success rather than experiencing it themselves.

In May 2016, Manchester United saw the ultimate underdogs Leicester City raise the famous trophy aloft, while they finished 15 points behind. This situation would occur 20 months after a newly-promoted Foxes team upset the odds by coming from behind to beat an established Manchester United filled with superstar signings and coached by a legendary manager.