A sensational final two days of action brought the ePL Invitational 2 Tournament to a close as Leicester City’s James Maddison ensured that the title of ePL Champion remains in The Midlands for a second successive event.
The original ePL Invitational was won by Wolverhampton Wanderers’ Diogo Jota, of course, after he sealed a memorable final with a golden goal winner. There was no need for a golden goal in the final this time, but plenty in the rounds before as Maddison sealed what, at points before his coronation, seemed the most unlikely of victories.
The Quarter-Finals
In the quarter-finals, Maddison’s crusade to make the semi-finals was almost over before it began. The mini midfield maestro was 2-0 deep into the first half against in-form Michael Obafemi of Southampton, only for a goal back on the stroke of half-time from Jamie Vardy to put Maddison back into firing range of the Saints player. Mind games were tense, with Maddison promising that he was ‘living rent-free’ in the head of his opponent and an equalizer from Maddison’s own in-game character proved pivotal. Maddison took the lead through Iheanacho, and while Obafemi equalised to take the match into ‘golden goal’ territory, it was Maddison himself who won it just eight minutes into that golden goal game.
According to Maddison himself, it was a good job that his camera froze as it would have shown him running around the house, but Obafemi was distraught. The game was a stone cold FIFA20 classic:
Elsewhere in the quarter-finals, Charlie Taylor was obliterated by Aston Villa’s Keinan Davis 8-1, while John Egan of Sheffield United triumphed over Brighton’s Aaron Connolly with two late goals separating the Irishmen as a Lys Mousset double took Egan through. In the only other quarter-final, there was a comprehensive 3-1 victory for Max Aaron’s Norwich against Chelsea, represented by Emerson.
The Semi-Finals
James Maddison had smack-talked Callum Wilson in the 1st Round, Max Meyer in the Last 16 and Southampton’s Michael Obafemi in the quarter-finals, but at the semi-final stage, he showed an enormous amount of respect to Keinan Davis, calling the Aston Villa striker ‘the best’ and crediting his opponent as being a “different animal” to anything he had faced.
After the second 4-3 victory in 24 hours, it had to be admitted by all who saw it that Maddison was the master of the mind games. It hadn’t looked to have worked at all, with the first half putting him 2-0 down before another goal back before half-time left him trailing by what was now a traditional score. Another goal for Davis in the second half, however, and with 10 minutes left, the Villa striker was finally able to relax in the knowledge that Maddison’s proclamation of his talent had been correct.
“You said I was the best… and I am the best.” David declared.
It was a fatal mistake.
Maddison grabbed two goals in the last nine minutes then slammed home a winner in golden goal time to progress to the final at the expense of a clearly devastated Keinan Davis.
In the other semi-final, Max Aarons was the red-hot favourite to get the better of Sheffield United’s John Egan, but a late, late winner from Fantasy Football favourite John Lundstram saw Egan win 2-1 and progress to the final, consigning Max Aarons to a semi-final defeat virtually no-one saw coming.
The Final
If John Egan was given too little credit coming into the knockout rounds, he may have been given too much credit heading into the final. It was anything but a close affair, with The Foxes midfielder Maddison smashing in two goals in the opening 25 minutes, both hitting the net courtesy of Jamie Vardy.
With two more goals from Kelechi Iheanacho in the second half making it 4-0, there was still enough time for Maddison to score as himself to make it five before a late John Fleck consolation proved anything but for a gutted Egan, who claimed to have “worked him out” too late in the day to make any difference.
Judge for yourself, but James Maddison was a worthy winner, for the entertainment value he brought to the festivities alone.
Maddison himself was a model of media-savvy modesty afterwards and credited the support of Leicester fans, promising to see them at the King Power very soon.
"That one was for you, Leicester fans!" 👊@Madders10 – #ePremierLeague Champion pic.twitter.com/CEptthPeUl
— Premier League (@premierleague) May 9, 2020
Foxes fans will hope the season concludes just to see the former Coventry midfielder back on the real pitch as soon as possible. With the skills he showed both on-screen as his character in-game and as himself, sports fans miss players with Maddison’s personality the most and it will be a real cause for celebration when Maddison returns to live action in the Premier League.
