Almost quietly, Leicester City has been in much better form since the firing of last year's conquering hero, Claudio Ranieri. The Foxes are quietly relatively comfortably out of the relegation zone in the Premier League, but on Tuesday night, they'll play their biggest home match ever against Sevilla in the Champions League with a shot at keeping their dream of being the champions of Europe alive.
At 3:45 p.m. ET, tune into FOX Sports 1 for live television coverage of this Champions League match on Tuesday, March 14, 2017, at King Power Stadium.
Soccer Odds at BookMaker.eu
Leicester City +240
Sevilla +110
Draw +270
Over/Under 2.5
Odds Analysis
Leicester City is most certainly a deserved underdog here at +240 on the moneyline, knowing that it should be a significantly overmatched team against a club who is third in La Liga and still hanging in there in the seemingly impossible fight against the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid. The Foxes though, have found some magic under Craig Shakespeare as manager of the club, winning consecutive 3-1 matches over Liverpool and Hull City at home, and all of a sudden, the opportunity is there, especially with a rare weekend off in the EPL, to stake a claim to a spot in the last eight in the Champions League.
Sevilla though, did win the first leg 2-1 and has to feel good about its chances of coming to England and securing a second straight victory, though a draw would be good enough to put the Spanish side through.
The First Leg
Magic happens all the time in the Champions League. Don't believe us? Just go back and watch the last eight minutes of the Barcelona/PSG match which saw the Catalan giants come back from down 5-3 on aggregate and needing three goals to advance to picking up a 6-5 triumph with the last kick of the ball.
Did we see a little bit of magic at Ramon Sanchez Pizjuan Stadium a couple weeks ago? Sevilla, by all accounts, was the better team against Leicester City by a wide margin in what turned out to be the last match for Ranieri at the helm before getting dismissed. Sevilla had 72 percent of the ball and took 22 shots against just seven for the Foxes, putting seven of the 22 on target. If not for the tremendous performance by Kasper Schmeichel, we wouldn't be talking about this match meaning a thing.
But Schmeichel saved the day time and time again, and just as he did repeatedly in 2015-16, Jamie Vardy ultimately came to the rescue. His goal in the 72nd minute wasn't decisive, but it was a crucial away goal after Sevilla had netted two and ultimately missed a penalty that could have opened the scoring in the first quarter of an hour. A 2-0 margin would have been virtually impossible to come back from, particularly if the Spanish side had scored here at King Power. A 2-1 victory? Now all of a sudden, a single strike by Vardy or Riyad Mahrez or any of the other Leicester City heroes would put it in front in the most improbable fashion.
Free Soccer Betting Pick
What has made Leicester City a much better team now than it was with Ranieri this year? Shinji Okazaki has been fantastic, for one, and bringing Mahrez more forward into the attack has really opened up a lot of doors for Vardy, who now once again looks like the man who was the most instrumental in the EPL in 2015-16.
That said, the Foxes are still flirting with fire. They're forward thinking, and in the Premier League, that's fine when you're chasing points and hoping to avoid relegation. Here in the Champions League? Not so much.
We do sense some magic at King Power this week, but we don't think it's going to be quite enough for the Foxes. A victory would be sweet, but one by just a single goal might not be good enough, especially if Sevilla can find the back of the net multiple times as they did at home.
Champions League Odds: Leicester City 3, Sevilla 2
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