BIG GAME BRUNO 

Leicester 0 Man Utd 2: Bruno Fernandes and Jesse Lingard secure Champions League football in crucial £80m clash

IT was a fitting way for Manchester United to seal their return to the Champions League - a penalty from the man who has revolutionised their season.

Had it not been for the £67million January arrival of Bruno Fernandes, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s men would not have been close to the top four.

Anthony Martial was hacked down in the box to win the penalty

Leicester led United by 14 points when the Portuguese midfielder arrived from Sporting Lisbon on January 30 - yet the Reds have overhauled them.

And the fact that United have been awarded a staggering 20 penalties this season - 14 of them in the Premier League - has certainly proved a major factor in their campaign.

Leicester had their chances to win this final-day shoot-out for a place in Europe’s elite club competition - with Jamie Vardy coming closest by heading against the bar.

But United kept their heads and Fernandes slotted home his 10th goal of the season to calm nerves, even though a draw here would have been enough to edge out Leicester.

This was a bitter pill for Leicester to swallow but they have won just four times in the Premier League since New Year’s Day and injuries to key players such as James Maddison, Ben Chilwell and Ricardo Pereira have hindered them badly.

While there has been much talk of Leicester’s collapse over the second half of the season, United’s recent form had not been convincing either.

Just one win from their previous four matches, including an FA Cup semi-final hiding by Chelsea, had taken some shine off their impressive resurgence either side of the lockdown.

RODGERS CHANGES

Rodgers reshaped his side, returning to a flat back four, with Marc Albrighton returning from injury.

It meant that four of Claudio Ranieri’s 2016 miracle men were starting - on a day when Leicester needed the improbable, here were players who had already achieved the impossible.

This was the loudest of behind-closed-doors matches, Leicester having clearly instructed their subs, directors, backroom staff and security staff to roar on their team.

It was not the same as 30,000 Foxes fans armed with clappers but it was noticeable and seemed to spur Rodgers’ side.

Anthony Martial, though, had the ball in the net early on - only for the Frenchman to be ruled offside.

Harry Maguire - on his first return to the King Power since last summer’s £80million move - did not receive the ear-bashing he would have expected had this fixture been played in normal times.

But he was booked for clattering Kelechi Iheanacho from behind - and then came a string of Leicester chances.

Nemanja Matic’s sleepy pass fell straight to Iheanacho on the edge of the box, with the impressive Wilfred Ndidi shooting narrowly over.

An Iheanacho shot squirmed out of David De Gea’s grasp but Jamie Vardy could not quite snaffle the rebound as the United keeper held it at the second attempt.

Leicester were pressing United high, making Maguire and Matic, in particular, look clunky.

Youri Tielemans almost snuck one in a shot with United’s defence against looking soporific.