Caleb Okoli was the hero for Leicester City as his first goal for the club earned the Foxes a point on the road against Brighton & Hove Albion.
The Foxes ended a 76-day wait for a Premier League goal when Stephy Mavididi’s strike cancelled out a Joao Pedro penalty.
Pedro scored from the spot again after Luke Thomas’ foul on Matt O’Riley was pulled back for a spot-kick by VAR.
Okoli then stayed onside to nod home Bilal El Khannouss’ peach of a free-kick to move the Foxes to within 14 points of 17th-placed Wolverhampton Wanderers.
Caleb Okoli reacts to first Leicester goal, receives message from Amad Diallo
It’s always a special moment when a player scores his first goal for the club and for Okoli, that’s no difference.
The £15m defender was linked with a return to Italy in the transfer window but stayed and was rewarded with a start and repaid the faith shown by Ruud van Nistelrooy.
Posting to his Instagram, the centre-back said: “First goal in the Premier League, grateful for the moment but hungry for more. Great effort from the team today.”
He had plenty of warm reception from several stars, including Manchester United winger Amad Diallo, who was a former teammate of his at Atalanta.
Diallo wrote: “Yessirrrrrrr.”
Kasey McAteer commented: “Love it mate.”
Jakub Stolarczyk added: “Love that bro!”
Brad Young also said: “Love it bro.”
Caleb Okoli stats vs Brighton
The 23-year-old has had to bide his time for a chance in the squad and after Wout Faes was ruled out through injury, it was Okoli’s time to shine.
Given how bad it has been for the Foxes this season, it couldn’t get much worse but in fact, Okoli produced a stellar display.
His Sofascore rating of 7.5 was the joint-second best in the XI behind Mavididi and equal with El Khannouss.
| Caleb Okoli Stats vs Brighton |
| Goals – 1 |
| Clearances – 6 |
| Blocked shots – 2 |
| Ground duels won – 1/3 |
| Aerial duels won – 3/3 |
Okoli was also monumental at the back, winning 100 per cent of his aerial duels and he deserves to keep his spot at the very least.