Community Shield: Ahmed Musa misses first silverware

Super Eagles striker Ahmed Musa efforts on Sunday was not enough to earn him first medal as Leicester City lost 2-1 to Manchester United in the Community Shield this afternoon. Nigerian international, who started his first competitive game for Foxes after his record signing, was brought in as a replacement for Shinji Okazaki and he proved to be a good buyer as his speed and direct running unsettled the United defence.

 

Jamie Vardy had earlier cancelled out Jesse Lingard's opener at Wembley, but Zlatan Ibrahimovic struck late to hand Jose Mourinho his first piece of silverware as United manager.

 

Musa had a good chance to put his side in front with nine minutes left when he stole in behind Marcos Rojo to get on the end of Robert Huth's flick, but he could only loop his header over the bar from close range.

 

It proved to be a costly miss from the striker too as another summer arrival, Ibrahimovic, made himself the hero by getting just enough on his header to squeeze the ball past Schmeichel and in off the post.

 

Leicester piled the pressure on in the closing stages, but they couldn't force penalties as United picked up the first silverware of the season.

 

The match got off to a pedestrian start on a sunny afternoon in the capital, with the first shot not arriving until 10 minutes in, when Anthony Martial found the side-netting with a drive from a tight angle.

 United had a better sight of goal just two minutes later as Luke Shaw's cross deflected off Riyad Mahrez and looped into the path of Wayne Rooney, but the captain could only produce a tame header that was simple for Kasper Schmeichel.

 

The Leicester keeper, who committed his future to the club on Saturday, was called into action again shortly afterwards when Ibrahimovic beat Wes Morgan in the air to knock the ball down for Marouane Fellaini, but Schmeichel collected the resulting shot at the second time of asking.

 

The Premier League champions had their first chance in the 19th minute when Vardy laid the ball back for Shinji Okazaki, who floated a deflected effort narrowly wide of David de Gea's goal.

 

The Japanese striker came even closer to breaking the deadlock from the resulting corner when he got in front of his man to flick a header goalwards, only to see his effort come back off the crossbar.

 

It was United who got the first goal of the game shortly after the half-hour mark as Lingard repeated his FA Cup final heroics with another memorable Wembley goal, dribbling through the Leicester defence before slotting the ball past Schmeichel and into the bottom corner.

 

The Foxes had a half-chance to restore parity five minutes after falling behind when Andy King raced to the front post to latch on to a corner, but he couldn't steer his header on target as Claudio Ranieri's side went into the break trailing.

 

They were back level within seven minutes of the restart, though, and it was last season's top scorer Vardy who opened his account for the 2016-17 campaign in trademark style.

 

The England international pounced on a poor back-pass from Fellaini to take the ball around De Gea before slotting it into the empty net from a tight angle having refused the chance to go down for a penalty.

 

Demarai Gray then sent a tame long-range effort straight into the arms of De Gea, before Rooney also failed to make the most of a shooting chance from outside the area after being teed up by Fellaini.

 

Leicester needed Danny Drinkwater to be in the right place at the right time with just over 10 minutes remaining when Ibrahimovic reacted quickly to steer a mis-hit shot towards goal, only to see the ball hacked away before it could creep over the line.