BBC employee and Spanish football journalist, Guillem Balague offered strong views on the performances and outcome of the game between Middlesbrough and Leicester this weekend.
The game finished 1-0 to the Teessider’s after Sam Greenwood produced a moment of class, pinging a free-kick into the top left corner. It was a tight affair between the two sides, but Balague believed that Leicester deserved more, and even suggested that it was their ‘best game of the season in many ways’ in terms of performance.
The comment was in response to a video posted on the ‘X’ platform, which offered highlights of Leicester City’s performance against Boro. But Balague’s suggestion prompted plenty of disagreement, even from Leicester fans.
The original tweet from Michael Thomas showed a number of phases of play from Leicester, with the heading, ‘Best game of the season in possession & out possession.’ In response, the Spanish football journalist replied, ‘When a team lose but don’t deserve to is when you realise who is with you, who understands what you are trying to do.’
One social media user-who happened to be a UEFA qualified coach, pointed out that if one team takes their chances and the opposition do not, ‘then they DO deserve to lose’.
Praise for Leicester boss
Balague insisted that Leicester had 7/8 clear chances in what was ‘probably the best game of the season in many ways’. He also added, ‘If all you care about is the result, then stop wasting two hours of your life and just look at the result!’
The journalist who has over a million followers also found time to praise Leicester City manager Enzo Maresca saying, ‘The journey for Maresca and co. continues. Nobody said it was all going to be all wins.’
Unsurprisingly, Middlesbrough fans-whilst acknowledging the encounter was a tight affair-largely disagreed with the claim from Balague, with one ‘X’ user tweeting ‘either team could have won that game on chances. Yes they had the ball a lot in the second half but by no means was it a one way game.’
It was Leicester’s third defeat of the season and only the third time they had failed to score, with Boro’s defence refusing to relent, even when the Foxes applied plenty of second-half pressure.
For Michael Carrick’s Middlesbrough, it was the perfect way to sign off for the International break after recording 7 wins from the last 9 league games and reaching the last 8 of the Carabao Cup in the process.