FA Cup 2023 – Leicester 1-2 Blackburn: Rovers ‘write new chapter’, says boss Jon Dahl Tomasson

As the rain poured down at full-time and Leicester City’s dejected players trudged off the pitch, Blackburn’s supporters remained in their corner of the King Power Stadium.

“Que sera sera, whatever will be will be, we’re going to Wembley,” was how the Rovers fans serenaded their players at the end, with the team taking the acclaim.

Another win in the next round and Rovers will be there.

“The players wrote a new chapter in their great history,” said their beaming boss Jon Dahl Tomasson afterwards. “They can be extremely proud.

“It was great to hear our fans, the players won it on the pitch and the fans won it in the stands.”

‘The greatest cup in the world’

Blackburn have not played in the top flight since being relegated at the end of the 2011-12 campaign but, as well as a cup run, they are eyeing promotion back to the big time this season.

The Lancashire side are fourth in the Championship and although an automatic return by finishing in the top two is unlikely, a play-off place is within reach.

Tuesday night’s win at Leicester, which was full of energy and verve, extended Blackburn’s excellent run to one defeat in 13 games and they are unbeaten in the last 10.

The fifth-round tie did not tickle the fancy of Foxes followers, with the stadium 9,000 short of capacity, but Blackburn’s fans went home delirious on a dull and dreary evening.

They were the more vocal throughout, backing their team for the entire 90 minutes, and rewarded with a notable triumph on their 200-mile round trip.

A 50% subsidised ticket price made the victory even sweeter for the 2,600 supporters who made their way to the Midlands.

Rovers, who beat West Ham in the Carabao Cup earlier this season to claim another Premier League scalp, are into the FA Cup quarter-finals for the first time since 2015.

“The lads have done an excellent job,” said former Newcastle and AC Milan striker Tomasson. “A giant-killer against West Ham in the last 16 and now into the last eight of the greatest cup in world.

“It has all those traditions. I spoke many times about it as a little child, when sitting and watching English television [channels]. This cup is brilliant and one of the only countries where it is alive – it made our fans proud.

“We take the cup very seriously, it is a cup with a lot traditions and the football club is the most important for the fans. We need to give it a go and we did that with them.

“Last eight in the best cup in the world, a brilliant achievement for a club like Rovers.”

Former Everton midfielder Leon Osman added on BBC TV: “Blackburn played with the freedom their manager said they would before the game. It is one thing to be told to have belief but it is another thing to do it.

“They took the game to Leicester both in and out of possession and that is no mean feat away from home at a Premier League club. They dominated for 65 minutes and could have scored more than the two goals they did.

“Then they had to defend and show another side of themselves, so it was an all-round performance from Blackburn Rovers and a well-deserved win.”

Leicester were winners of the competition only two years ago, when they beat Chelsea in the final, but this exit means they can now focus on trying to avoid relegation from the Premier League.

The Foxes are 14th in the table, just four places and three points above the drop zone.

Manager Brendan Rodgers said: “The FA Cup was an opportunity to get to the quarter-final, against a Championship team at home, but they were a lot better than us.

“We have to be worried about that.”