James Maddison’s brilliant brace continues his heroic form and brings Leicester a win over Randers
James Maddison fired a brilliant brace as Leicester smashed Randers 1-3 in the Europa Conference League.
The Foxes came into the second-leg having won 4-1 at home last week, and merely had to see things out in Denmark to progress, but James Maddison shone in a rather eventful victory.
Maddison scored two stunning strikes midway through the second-half to take Leicester from a reassuring but wobbly 0-1 lead given to them after an early Harvey Barnes goal into a commanding 0-3 advantage (and eventual 1-3 win).
The first goal was a stunning free-kick that the Englishman buried into the top corner of the net with such speed and accuracy that Patrik Carlgren in the Randers goal didn’t even move as he turned his head to watch it sail into his own net.
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Then just a handful of minutes later, Maddison appeared at the end of a multi-pass move to curl a beautiful shot in from a similar spot to the free-kick, only this time he found the other corner of the net.
Leicester used 15 passes to work the ball out from their own half, through lines of Randers press and eventually to Maddison at the edge of the box where he let fly. It was a beautiful goal and put Leicester through.
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It was also Maddison’s first brace since December 2020, when he notched twice against Brighton. That is a huge thing for a player who is slowly but steadily getting back to his best level over the last few months.
Prior to his 25th birthday on November 23, Maddison had just two direct goal involvements (1 goal, 1 assist) in 17 games played for Leicester. Since he turned 25? Maddison has played 18 games and has 16 direct goal involvements (10 goals, 6 assists). His 11 goals in total makes him joint-top scorer for Leicester this season.
James Maddison has scored twice in a game for the first time since December 2020 against Brighton.
⚽️ 70’
⚽️ 74’Madders at the double. #UECL pic.twitter.com/nr7huXlSlm
— Squawka (@Squawka) February 24, 2022
That is serious form for Maddison, he’s playing as well as anyone else right now, and if he keeps it up then the returns of Patson Daka and Jamie Vardy could lead to the Foxes climbing the table rapidly, so long as they can stop conceding every single game, anyway.
“If you’re the centre-forward, [and] if he was a 10, you’d love to play with him because you know he’d get on the half-turn and slip you through,” said Robbie Savage, post-match.
