Leicester City of England have taken a different angle in reactions to the Super Eagles loss to Croatia at the World Cup, as The Foxes are celebrating three of their players – Kelechi Iheanacho, Wilfred Onyinyen Ndidi and Ahmed Musa – for making the first time the club would have three players in one match at the World Cup.
While Chelsea mocked Victor Moses for a poor outing and Arsenal were cold towards Alex Iwobi’s shoddy show, Leicester disclosed that Iheanacho, Musa and Ndidi broke a record during Saturday’s match in Kaliningrad, Russia.
Ndidi started the match, while Iheanacho and Musa both came off the bench, to mark the first time two or more Leicester players had appeared on the pitch together at the same time in a World Cup game.
Portuguese pair Ricardo Pereira and Adrien Silva could have got there first had they both featured in Friday night’s 3-3 draw with Spain.
Russia 2018 is already a historic event for Leicester, with 10 players potentially featuring for the club that previously had six payers in a World Cup tie while contracted with them.
On the other hand, Chelsea criticized their own player, Victor Moses, over his lackluster display.
The Blues’ former midfield star, John Obi Mikel was also not spared, as he was lacking in character and had to be substituted in the closing minutes of the game.
The London club wrote: ”Victor Moses became the first Chelsea player to suffer defeat at Russia 2018 when a lacklustre display from Nigeria resulted in defeat by Croatia.
”Moses started on the left of the Nigeria line-up but soon moved into an attacking position on the right and took most set-pieces, but he and his team-mates, who included John Mikel Obi in the no.10 position, rarely threatened.”
Another Chelsea player, Kenneth Omeruo would have started against the Croats, but the player he was supposed to replace in the starting line-up, defender Leon Balogun, passed a late fitness test.
For Arsenal, Iwobi followed in the footsteps of former Gunners star, Nwankwo Kanu by making his World Cup debut for the Eagles and came close to scoring an equalizer just before half-time but saw his shot blocked.
In a tactical substitution, Iwobi was replaced by Leicester’s Musa in the 62nd minute, but looks doubtful to start when Nigeria tackle Iceland in a make-or-mar clash at Volgograd Arena at 4pm on Friday.
“Congratulations to #CRO, commiserations to #NGA It wasn’t to be for @alexiwobi and @NGSuperEagles tonight – their next game is on Friday against #ISL,” Arsenal wrote on Twitter.
