"Running out of words for him", "Special beyond words" - Fans hail Chelsea star as Blues defeat Leicester 1-0 in PL clash
A section of Chelsea fans were in awe of Moises Caicedo’s performance during the Premier League match with Leicester City on Sunday, March 9. The Ecuadorian international kept the Foxes quiet in midfield for a huge chunk of the game as the Blues secured a hard-fought 1-0 win at Stamford Bridge.
With Manchester City losing to Nottingham Forest on Saturday, Chelsea were handed the opportunity to overtake City into the Champions League spots. As expected, Enzo Maresca’s side started the game strongly and looked to take the lead early on.
Their positive start seemed to pay off as they were handed a penalty in the 19th minute after Victor Kristiansen tripped Jadon Sancho in the 18-yard area. But in what came as a surprise, Chelsea designated penalty taker Cole Palmer was foiled from the spot by goalkeeper Mads Hermansen to keep the scoreline level at the break.
Chelsea started the second half with more determination, and after some minutes of testing each other in goal, the Blues finally found joy, courtesy of Marc Cucurella. The Spanish defender received a pass from Enzo Fernandez and unleashed a long-range strike that went past the outstretched hand of Hermansen into the bottom right corner.
Leicester rallied late on, but all to no avail as the Blues displayed resilience at the back. And in the end, a lone goal was enough for Enzo Maresca’s side to claim all three points on home soil.
While Marc Cucurella won the MOTM award after the match, Moises Caicedo also stood out for the Blues. The Ecuadorian won 11 out of 12 duels, wasn’t dribbled past, made four tackles, registered a passing accuracy of 93 percent (57/61), and received a rating of 8.2 as per Sofascore.
Fans showered Moises Caicedo for outstanding performance against Leicester. An X user wrote:
''I’m running out of words for Moisés Caicedo. There’s a reason you don’t see people talk about his price.''
Another tweeted:
''Sir Moises Caicedo you are the greatest my two eyes have ever and will ever see. You are special beyond words mate.''
''Moises Caicedo you are truly one of a kind, wow.'' @CFCMods wrote.
''Take a bow, Moisés Caicedo. Another sensational display in the engine room.'' @CFCCentral3 added.
''Moises Caicedo won 10/11 Ground duels, made 4 tackles, 3 interceptions and avoided the yellow card suspension. Warrior.'' @ChelseaIoanArmy pointed out some of his stats.
''Caicedo legit plays like he’s on 10 chemistry with a shadow chemistry style and everyone else is on basic chemistry'' @flameosumeet said.
Chelsea Enzo Maresca hails ''unbelievable'' performance after 1-0 win over Leicester City
Enzo Maresca was delighted with his side’s performance after they secured a 1-0 win over Leicester City on Sunday. The Italian boss was particularly pleased with his players’ work rate and said they were ''unbelievable.''
Maresca said in the post-match press conference (via the Premier League website):
"They gave everything and were unbelievable. It's not happy when you prepare for one thing and the other team arrives here and it's completely different. Between first and second halves, we created enough to win the game.''
He added:
"Marc [Cucurella] scored a fantastic goal but we had more chances to score a second one. It's not easy for the players because we had to adapt and they did that fantastic."
Chelsea are now sitting in the fourth position on the league standings with 49 points after 28 matches.