Emma Njoku
Kelechi Iheanacho may be frozen out at Leicester City for his act of ‘poor sportsmanship’ in yesterday’s Premier League game between Leicester City and Norwich at the King Power Stadium.
The Nigeria international was pulled off and substituted during the match barely 39 minutes into the game for refusing to observe the fair play rule.
Iheanacho was given the ball to put out of play due to an injury to a Norwich City player, but instead of giving the ball back, he ran with it and tried to capitalise on the moment. His action infuriated Leicester coach, Brendan Rogers, who promptly pulled him out and substituted him.
Meanwhile, Leicester fans have taken to the Twitter to have had their say on the bizarre moment, mostly agreeing with Rodgers’ decision, while some believe it was good for Iheanacho to seize the moment.
“Norwich are incensed. Iheanacho, having been given the ball out of courtesy, following an injury, refuses to give it back. He attacks and is brought down on the edge of the box.
You don’t see that too often,” one fan twitted.
Other twits by the fans read:
“Brendan Rogers substituting Iheanacho in the first half looks like he’s punishing him for not adhering to the fair play rules. I wonder if he’ll do that if it were someone else.” “Harsh on Iheanacho, takes initiative after Norwich kick it out, gets stamped on and surrounded by the entire Norwich team, Maddison then gives the ball back ♂️ and Iheanacho gets taken off…
“The moment is eerily similar to what Leeds United did last Season in the Championship against Aston Villa, where Leeds scored a goal after a Villa player went down.
Leeds Manager, Marcelo Bielsa, was that infuriated by his team that he let Villa walk a goal in off kick-off to put the score 1-1.
“The winner of the Fair Play Award at the #TheBestAwards is Marcelo Bielsa and Leeds United for their actions v Aston Villa in The Championship last season.”
Iheanacho only began to get back his groove lately in Leicester City’s first team, having struggled since the start to current the season. The out-of-favour Super Eagles’ striker recently received plaudits from Brendan following his impressive run of form for the Foxes lately. There are fears that the coach may sideline him in subsequent matches as a result of his act of poor sportsmanship during yesterday’s match.