Marcelino Nunez’s 35-Yard Strike Sends Ipswich Past Leicester in Carabao Cup

Marcelino Nunez picked the ball up more than 35 yards from goal, well outside the range most midfielders would even attempt a shot from, and drove a right-footed effort into the bottom corner. It settled a Carabao Cup second-round tie that Leicester had briefly threatened to drag back into contention, and it capped a night in which Nunez scored twice to send newly promoted Ipswich Town through at Portman Road.

Ipswich led through Sindre Walle Egeli’s 62nd-minute finish, only for Olabade Aluko to draw Leicester level five minutes later. Nunez restored Ipswich’s lead in the 71st minute with a right-footed effort from outside the box, and his stoppage-time strike from more than 35 yards sealed a 3-1 win and ended any doubt about which side deserved to progress.

A statement of Ipswich’s top-flight ambition

Ipswich are back in the Premier League this season after securing promotion, and results like this against Championship opposition are exactly the kind of statement a newly promoted club wants to make early in a campaign. Beating a Leicester side that spent a decade in the top flight before recent relegation is not a formality even in a cup competition, and Nunez’s two goals gave Ipswich’s home crowd a reminder of the quality now representing them in England’s top division.

Egeli’s opener, assisted by Chuba Akpom, set the tone for a performance built around patient build-up play rather than direct chances. Nunez’s first goal, arriving 25 minutes later, showed the same midfielder capable of both playmaking and finishing, a combination that has made him one of the more understated performers to emerge from the Championship in recent seasons.

Leicester’s response and a nervous finish

Leicester’s night had already been shaped by circumstance before kick-off. Manager changes made to the starting line-up followed a 1-2 defeat to Burton Albion in League One only three days earlier, a result that will have stung a club with Leicester’s history far more than a cup exit to a Premier League side. Six changes were made to the team that lost to Burton, a clear signal that this trip to Suffolk was never going to be prioritised over a Championship campaign Leicester need to get right after their own relegation from the top flight.

Aluko’s finish in the 67th minute briefly threatened to punish Ipswich for any lapse in concentration, cutting the deficit to 2-1 and giving Leicester’s away following something to shout about. For more than 20 minutes the tie hung in the balance, Ipswich unable to find the second goal that would settle things and Leicester probing for an equaliser that would have taken the game to extra time or penalties.

Nunez settles it from distance

It was Nunez who provided the answer, deep into stoppage time, with a strike that will be replayed on highlight reels long after the details of the rest of the tie are forgotten. Picking up possession well outside the penalty area, he opted to shoot first time rather than attempt to work the ball closer to goal, and the result flew beyond Leicester’s goalkeeper before anyone in a blue shirt could react. It was the kind of goal that only works when the taker has both the technique and the conviction to attempt it, and Nunez had both.

The goal was his second of the night and continued a run of form that has followed him through a Chilean international career built on set-piece quality and a willingness to shoot from range. He has already produced similar moments in league football for Ipswich, including a first-half free-kick that settled an East Anglian derby against Norwich, and Tuesday’s second goal fits the same pattern of a player unafraid to take responsibility in moments other midfielders would shy away from.

Nunez has not always had it easy at Ipswich. In that same Norwich derby where his free-kick won the game, he was withdrawn late on after playing a long spell under the threat of a second booking, a reminder that his combative streak has occasionally worked against him as much as his technical quality has worked for him. A cup win in which he was directly responsible for two of the goals is the kind of performance that reinforces why Ipswich have built round him rather than looked to replace him, even in spells when his contribution has been less eye-catching.

A midfielder built for moments like this

What separates Nunez from many of the technically gifted midfielders operating below the Premier League’s biggest clubs is his willingness to take on responsibility in exactly the moments most players avoid it. A stoppage-time strike from 35 yards, with the tie still technically live and Leicester pushing for an equaliser, is a low-percentage decision that only works when the player attempting it has both the confidence to try it and the technique to execute it if the opportunity arrives. Ipswich’s fans inside Portman Road have watched him produce similar moments across league and cup football from the day he arrived, and Tuesday’s double will only add to a growing collection of highlight-reel contributions from a player who has become central to how Ipswich attack from midfield.

A cup run worth taking seriously

Ipswich’s place in the third round now sets up a route through the competition that a club with Premier League football and a talented, settled squad will want to take seriously. Cup runs have historically offered newly promoted sides a route to European qualification through the back door, and McKenna’s squad, still adjusting to the physical demands of a full top-flight season, has shown in this tie that squad depth will not be the issue that curtails any ambitions in this competition. Egeli’s continued involvement in the goals, alongside Nunez’s, points to a forward line contributing from multiple areas of the pitch rather than relying on a single focal point, a promising sign for a club with a demanding fixture list still to come.

What it means for both clubs

For Ipswich, progression to the third round extends a competition that offers a realistic route to silverware and continental football for a club adjusting to life back in the Premier League. Manager Kieran McKenna has used cup football in previous seasons to test squad depth without risking his strongest available side, and Tuesday’s line-up changes will have given fringe players and returning squad members valuable minutes in a competitive fixture. Egeli’s goal and Nunez’s double both came from players trusted to deliver against senior opposition, evidence that McKenna’s squad has strength beyond the eleven that starts Premier League matches.

For Leicester, the immediate priority is a Championship promotion push that has started unevenly, punctuated by a shock defeat to a League One side days before this cup exit. Six changes to the side that lost at Burton reflected a club unwilling to let a cup tie disrupt preparation for the games that matter most to their season. Leicester accepted the tie would likely end in defeat. Aluko’s goal offered a note of encouragement for a forward line still finding its feet after relegation, but Leicester’s focus now turns fully to a Championship table they need to be competing at the top of by the season’s end.

A cup competition with genuine stakes

Tuesday’s tie was a reminder that the Carabao Cup, often treated as secondary by clubs balancing continental commitments, still produces genuine drama between English football’s second and top tiers. Ipswich’s Premier League status did not guarantee an easy night against a Leicester side with recent top-flight pedigree of their own, and it took a moment of individual brilliance from Nunez, rather than a comfortable team performance, to finally put the tie beyond doubt.

For a player who has quietly built a reputation as one of the more effective creative midfielders outside the traditional Premier League elite, two goals in a cup tie against Championship opposition will do little to change perceptions built over a longer body of work. What it does is add another entry to a growing list of moments where Ipswich have needed a decisive contribution from midfield and found Nunez willing to provide it, whether from a dead ball, a driven finish inside the box, or, on this occasion, a strike from a distance most players would never attempt.