Vardy brace crowns Leicester title party – Morgan lifts trophy

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LEICESTER, United Kingdom, May 7, (AFP): Leicester City captain Wes Morgan hoisted the Premier League trophy aloft to a burst of pyrotechnics on Saturday as one of sport’s most captivating stories reached its giddy climax.

Following a 3-1 win over Everton in their final home game, the 5,000-1 outsiders, whose exploits have captivated fans around the world, got their hands on the prized trophy at an exultant King Power Stadium.

After the players had been called up one by one to a hastily constructed on-pitch plinth — the biggest cheers reserved for star players Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N’Golo Kante — Morgan was handed the trophy by competition winner Steve Worthy, a lifelong Leicester fan.

The club’s inspirational manager Claudio Ranieri was at Morgan’s side as the Jamaica international centre-back raised the trophy above his head, to a backdrop of fireworks and spiralling blue and gold streamers.

The 25kg trophy was decorated with ribbons of blue, for Leicester, and yellow, representing the royal house of Thailand, home country of club owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, who looked on admiringly.

As the players embarked on a lap of honour, Leicester’s fans, who saw their team narrowly avoid relegation last season, burst into a chorus of “Leicester till I die!”.

It was followed by “Barcelona, we’re coming for you!”, in a nod to next season’s hotly anticipated Champions League campaign.

Vardy scored a brace and missed a penalty in the victory over Everton, which took Ranieri’s men 10 points clear of second-place Tottenham Hotspur ahead of the London club’s game with Southampton on Sunday.

Banned for Leicester’s two previous games, Vardy struck in each half, with Andy King also on target, and would have had a hat-trick had he not blazed a second-half penalty over the bar.

Prior to kick-off, fans were treated to a performance by renowned Italian tenor Andrea Bocelli, who prompted roars of approval from the flag-waving home support by removing his jacket to reveal a blue Leicester shirt as he sang.

Leicester play their final game of the season next Sunday at outgoing champions Chelsea, Ranieri’s former club, before an open-top bus parade in Leicester on May 16.

Tottenham’s 2-2 draw at Chelsea last Monday, which gave Leicester the title, sparked a week of celebrations in the city and fans arrived at the stadium several hours before kick-off on Saturday to drink in the moment.

Supporters formed a snake-like queue for blue team jerseys stamped with a gold and white “Premier League Champions 2015-16” sleeve badge, while souvenir scarves, flags and programmes were eagerly snapped up from stalls around the ground.

Bright sunshine gave way to heavy spring downpours as kick-off approached, but the atmosphere inside the stadium remained fervent.

The sell-out 32,140 crowd witnessed a stirring pre-match performance by Bocelli, who fulfilled a recent promise to his compatriot Ranieri by singing ‘Nessun Dorma’ and ‘Time to Say Goodbye’.

Everton’s players gave their opponents a guard of honour as they emerged onto the pitch and it took Leicester less than five minutes to go ahead as Vardy converted King’s lofted cross for his 23rd goal of the campaign.

King made it 2-0 in the 33rd minute, sweeping home right-footed after Riyad Mahrez’s jinking run into the box was halted by Leighton Baines.

Vardy added a third 20 minutes after the interval, drilling a penalty past Joel Robles after he had been fouled by Matthew Pennington.

It would have been a hat-trick, but after Jeff Schlupp had been poleaxed by fellow substitute Darron Gibson, Vardy blazed his second penalty into the stand, prompting a shake of the head and a rueful smile.

Results/Standings

British Soccer Results/Standings

LONDON, May 7, (AFP): English Soccer League results on Saturday:

Premier League

Aston Villa                 0    Newcastle                  0

Bournemouth               1    West Brom                 1

Crystal Palace             2    Stoke                       1

Norwich                     0    Man United                 1

Sunderland                 3    Chelsea                    2

West Ham                  1    Swansea                   4

Leicester                   3    Everton                     1

Championship

Blackburn                  3    Reading                    1

Cardiff                      1    Birmingham                1

Charlton                    0    Burnley                     3

Derby                       0    Ipswich                     1

Fulham                     1    Bolton                      0

Huddersfield                1    Brentford                    5

Hull                         5    Rotherham                  1

Middlesbrough             1    Brighton                    1

Milton                       1    Nott Forest                  2

Preston                     1    Leeds                       1

QPR                        1    Bristol City                 0

Wolves                     2    Sheff Wed                  1

League Two

Accrington                  0    Stevenage                  0

AFC Wimbledon            1    Newport                     0

Bristol Rovers              2    Dagenham                  1

Crawley                     0    Barnet                      3

Luton                       4    Exeter                      1

Mansfield                   0    Cambridge                  0

Morecambe                 1    York                        1

Notts County               0    Carlisle                     5

Oxford                      3    Wycombe                  0

Plymouth                   5    Hartlepool                  0

Portsmouth                 1    Northampton                2

Yeovil                      0    Leyton Orient               1

Scottish Results

Premiership

Dundee                     0    Hamilton                    1

Hearts                      1    Ross County               1

Kilmarnock                 0    Partick                      2

Motherwell                  1    St Johnstone               2

Inverness CT               2    Dundee Utd                 3

English Soccer Standings

Premier League

                            P   W    D    L  GF   GA  Pts

x Leicester               37   23   11    3   67    35   80

Tottenham                36   19   13    4   67    28   70

Arsenal                   36   19   10    7   59    34   67

Man City                 36   19    7   10   68    38   64

Man Utd                  36   18    9    9   44    31   63

West Ham                36   15   14    7   61    47   59

Southampton             36   16    9   11   53    39   57

Liverpool                 35   15   10   10   59    48   55

Chelsea                  36   12   12   12   57    51   48

Stoke                     37   13    9   15   39    54   48

Swansea                 37   12   10   15   41    51   46

Everton                   36   10   14   12   56    52   44

Watford                   35   12    8   15   36    42   44

Crystal Palace           37   11    9   17   38    47   42

West Brom               37   10   12   15   33    47   42

Bournemouth             37   11    9   17   44    64   42

Sunderland               36     8   11   17   43    60   35

Newcastle                37     8   10   19   39    64   34

Norwich                  36     8    7   21   35    62   31

xx Aston Villa            37     3    8   26   27    72   17

Championship

                            P   W    D    L  GF   GA  Pts

x Burnley                 46   26   15    5   72    35   93

p Middlesbrough         46   26   11    9   63    31   89

y Brighton                46   24   17    5   72    42   89

y Hull                     46   24   11   11   69    35   83

y Derby                   46   21   15   10   66    43   78

y Sheff Wed              46   19   17   10   66    45   74

Ipswich                   46   18   15   13   53    51   69

Cardiff                    46   17   17   12   56    51   68

Brentford                 46   19    8   19   72    67   65

Birmingham              46   16   15   15   53    49   63

Preston                   46   15   17   14   45    45   62

QPR                      46   14   18   14   54    54   60

Leeds                    46   14   17   15   50    58   59

Wolves                   46   14   16   16   53    58   58

Blackburn                46   13   16   17   46    46   55

Nott Forest               46   13   16   17   43    47   55

Reading                  46   13   13   20   52    59   52

Bristol City               46   13   13   20   54    71   52

Huddersfield             46   13   12   21   59    70   51

Fulham                   46   12   15   19   66    79   51

Rotherham               46   13   10   23   53    71   49

xx Charlton               46     9   13   24   40    80   40

xx Milton                 46     9   12   25   39    69   39

xx Bolton                 46     5   15   26   41    81   30

League Two

                            P   W    D    L  GF   GA  Pts

x Northampton           46   29   12    5   82    46   99

p Oxford                  46   24   14    8   84    41   86

p Bristol Rovers          46   26    7   13   77    46   85

y Accrington             46   24   13    9   74    48   85

y Plymouth               46   24    9   13   72    46   81

y Portsmouth             46   21   15   10   75    44   78

y AFC Wimbledon       46   21   12   13   64    50   75

Leyton Orient             46   19   12   15   60    61   69

Cambridge               46   18   14   14   66    55   68

Carlisle                   46   17   16   13   67    62   67

Luton                     46   19    9   18   63    61   66

Mansfield                46   17   13   16   61    53   64

Wycombe                46   17   13   16   45    44   64

Exeter                    46   17   13   16   63    65   64

Barnet                    46   17   11   18   67    68   62

Hartlepool                46   15    6   25   49    72   51

Notts County             46   14    9   23   54    83   51

Stevenage               46   11   15   20   52    67   48

Yeovil                    46   11   15   20   43    59   48

Crawley                  46   13    8   25   45    78   47

Morecambe              46   12   10   24   69    91   46

Newport                  46   10   13   23   43    64   43

xx Dagenham            46     8   10   28   46    81   34

xx York                   46     7   13   26   51    87   34

Scottish Premiership Standings

                            P   W    D    L  GF   GA  Pts

Celtic                     35   24    8    3   82    27   80

Aberdeen                 35   22    5    8   60    40   71

Hearts                    36   17   10    9   56    38   61

St Johnstone             36   15    7   14   54    52   52

Motherwell               36   14    5   17   44    55   47

Ross County             36   13    6   17   50    58   45

Dundee                   36   11   14   11   52    52   47

Inverness CT             36   12   10   14   49    48   46

Partick                   36   12    8   16   36    45   44

Hamilton                 36   11    9   16   40    60   42

Kilmarnock               36     9    8   19   38    59   35

xx Dundee Utd           36     7    6   23   38    65   27

Note 1: Standings read as played, won, drawn, lost, goals for, goals against and points.

Note 2: x denotes champions, p denotes promoted, y denotes play offs, xx denotes relegated.

 

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