Birmingham boss Wayne Rooney said he could understand why Leicester excessively celebrated a goal in front of home fans after his side were beaten 3-2 by the Sky Bet Championship leaders.
Leicester forward Stephy Mavididi was booked after climbing an advertising hoarding and goading Blues supporters in the Tilton End behind the goal at St. Andrew’s.
“There’s emotion in the game and players celebrate – I got a mobile phone thrown at me at Anfield, so players have their reasons,” said Rooney.
“Of course you want players to be respectful of the fans and I’m sure I’ll have one of my players do something to upset away fans.
“It’s good that they can celebrate – I don’t mean against us, but I was listening to the Chelsea game on the radio driving home the other day and a goal went in but no one celebrated because they were waiting for VAR to check it.
“It’s good they can look across and see they are onside and celebrate their goals.”
Rooney admitted Birmingham were “naive”, adding: “For 30 minutes we were really good – we pressed them really well and created chances.
“But we were naive for their first two goals and we allowed them to control the last 10 minutes of the first half.”
Leicester took the lead from a speedy breakaway from a Birmingham corner in the 10th minute.
Abdul Fatawu sped away and squared to Mavididi to dink over goalkeeper John Ruddy.
Jordan James levelled after 15 minutes, finding the bottom corner with a low shot after Siriki Dembele squared to Ivan Sunjic, who supplied the final pass.
Leicester regained the lead after 22 minutes when Ricardo Pereira dispossessed Juninho Bacuna and Fatawu again raced goalwards, releasing Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall to round Ruddy and slot home.
Mavidivi made it 3-1 in the 50th minute when his curling shot from 15 yards took a slight deflection and flew past Ruddy, before James’ shot deflected in off Jannik Vestergaard for 3-2 after 74 minutes.
Leicester manager Enzo Maresca admitted his team “don’t like” counter-attacking, despite scoring their first two goals from breaks.
“We don’t like counter-attacking but sometimes you need to use it,” he said. “We plan the game, but it depends on how the opponent tries to defend against us.
“We struggled for the first 15-20 minutes then we were completely in control, creating chances.
“But when you don’t take your chances, the opponent is there waiting, so they scored their second goal.
“Even after that, I liked the way the team behaved all together so I’m very happy.”
New England Revolution 1-4 Inter Miami: Messi at the double as Herons run riot
Lionel Messi scored twice and laid on a goal for Luis Suarez as Inter Miami retained their three-point lead at the Eastern Conference summit with a 4-1 win over the New England Revolution.
A franchise-record crowd of 65,612 people witnessed a flying start from the Revs as they took the lead within just 37 seconds at Gillette Stadium. Carles Gil pounced on some sloppy play from Miami to tee up Tomas Chancalay, who lobbed Drake Callender for the opener.
However, Miami roared back with Messi leading from the front. They had a deserved equaliser just after the half-hour mark, Messi slotting home after latching onto Robert Taylor's throughball.
Messi had his second after 67 minutes, producing another composed finish after former Barcelona team-mate Sergio Busquets split the New England backline.
Messi was involved in another two goals as Miami added some gloss to the scoreline late on; his first-time shot was saved by Henrich Ravas but Benjamin Cremaschi was on hand to score on the rebound after 83 minutes, then the Argentine teed up Suarez for a curled finish five minutes later.
Miami stay three points clear of Supporters' Shield holders FC Cincinnati at the top of the East, with the Orange and Blue keeping pace by beating the Colorado Rapids 2-1 on Saturday.
Data Debrief: Messi rolls back the years
Ahead of Saturday's game, some feared Miami boss Gerardo Martino would opt to rest Messi after speaking of the risks of fielding the eight-time Ballon d'Or winner on New England's artificial pitch.
However, Messi came through 90 minutes with another mesmerising performance. He has now recorded a goal involvement in 10 straight club matches for the seventh time in his glittering career, last doing so for Barcelona between September and December in 2018.
Hull City 3-3 Ipswich Town: Tigers fight back three times to deny Tractor Boys
Ipswich Town missed the chance to move into an automatic promotion spot as play-off-chasing Hull City came from behind three times in a thrilling 3-3 Championship draw at The MKM Stadium.
Ipswich knew a victory would take them second after Leeds United were surprisingly beaten 4-0 by Queens Park Rangers on Friday, and they led on three separate occasions, George Hirst opening the scoring before Omari Hutchinson produced two brilliant strikes from the edge of the area.
However, buoyed by slip-ups from rivals Norwich City and West Brom earlier on Saturday, Hull dug deep to fight back on each occasion, Ozan Tufan and Liam Delap scoring their first two equalisers.
With Liam Rosenior's men 3-2 down with just four minutes to play, substitute Noah Ohio blasted his shot in off the crossbar to punish an error from Ipswich goalkeeper Vaclav Hladky.
The result keeps Ipswich behind second-placed Leeds on goal difference, though the Tractor Boys have a game in hand to come at Coventry City on Tuesday.
Hull, meanwhile, are two points adrift of the top six, with Norwich's goal difference advantage meaning their top-six spot is all but assured. The Tigers will, however, leapfrog West Brom if they beat Plymouth Argyle on the final day and Albion lose to Preston North End.
Data Debrief: Hutchinson's best not enough
Hutchinson was a man who deserved to be on the winning side on Saturday, giving Ryan Allsop no chance with two near-identical left-footed strikes from the right corner of the penalty area.
His goals came from an expected goals (xG) total of just 0.6, and he led all players on the pitch for shots (eight) and passes in the final third (21), also laying on three chances for his team-mates.
Al-Khaleej 0-1 Al-Nassr: Ronaldo misfires on return as Laporte nets winner
Cristiano Ronaldo returned from suspension but failed to find the net as Al-Nassr secured a 1-0 win over Al-Khaleej on Saturday, with Aymeric Laporte coming up with the decisive goal.
Ronaldo was in action for the first time since being sent off for an elbow in a 2-1 Saudi Super Cup loss to Al-Hilal earlier this month, with his initial two-match ban being reduced to one on appeal.
He missed three good chances as Al-Nassr threatened to fall further behind runaway Saudi Pro League leaders Al-Hilal, but former Manchester City defender Laporte spared his blushes by nodding Marcelo Brozovic's deep free-kick into the bottom-left corner with 68 minutes gone.
Al-Nassr remain nine points adrift of Al-Hilal at the summit in spite of their win, with Jorge Jesus' team unbeaten through 28 games this season as they close in on a record-extending 18th title.
Data Debrief: Ronaldo misfires on return
Ronaldo was presented with the Saudi Pro League's Player of the Month award for March ahead of kick-off, having scored four goals in three league appearances last month.
However, his sights were off on Saturday as he failed to net despite three of the visitors' four big chances, as defined by Opta, falling his way. He led all players on the pitch for expected goals (1.27 xG), shots (five), shots on target (three) and touches in the area (nine) without reward.
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