Spirited City Denied On Penalties
The last-eight tie, a thrilling, end-to-end spectacle, ebbed and flowed in waves, with each side enjoying flurries of opportunities over the initial 90 minutes in front of a raucous crowd on Filbert Way.
When Jamie Vardy cancelled out Bernardo Silva's first-half opener, from 12 yards at the very end, the pendulum appeared to swing back in City's favour ahead of extra-time.
In the shoot-out, Vardy's spot-kick cannoned back off the post before Riyad Mahrez's penalty was also palmed away by Chilean shot-stopper Claudio Bravo.
Despite a valiant effort, it was Pep Guardiola's men who progressed - with İlkay Gündoğan, Yaya Touré, Lukas Nmecha and Gabriel Jesus all converting from the spot.
Fuchs Proud Of Performance
Christian Fuchs spoke to LCFC TV following the penalty shoot-out defeat by Manchester City.
Claude Puel made seven changes from the side who lost to Crystal Palace in the Premier League, while Guardiola elected to bring in nine fresh faces.
After 19 minutes, the visitors went close as Silva clipped the crossbar, via the fingers of Ben Hamer, with the Leicester goalkeeper acrobatically tipping it out for a corner.
Gündoğan was clearly key to Man City’s stratagem and it was his intervention which led to the opener, galloping up-field and laying it off for Silva to slot it home.
A defining moment came just before the hour-mark as Vardy and Mahrez replaced Kelechi Iheanacho and Marc Albrighton, providing a spark for Puel’s men.
Tunnel Cam: Manchester City
Watch the best of the action from inside the tunnel at King Power Stadium for the Carabao Cup Quarter Final against Man City at King Power Stadium...
Amid a chorus of cries from both supporters for penalties, referee Robert Madley eventually elected to award one – to Leicester – at the end of eight minutes stoppage time.
Kyle Walker was adjudged to have bundled Demarai Gray to the floor. Vardy duly obliged to send the tie to extra-time - triggering pandemonium in the stands.
The real drama was to come, however, in a shoot-out. While Christian Fuchs, Harry Maguire and Vicente Iborra dispatched their spot-kicks, Vardy and Mahrez were cruelly denied.
Major moment
“Unfortunately, there has to be a loser and that was Leicester City today. They can hold their heads up high after that performance.” – Gerry Taggart, LCFC Radio.
“It was a cruel blow for Leicester to lose it like that. When they evaluate the entire game, they will take a lot of positives from it, but it won’t stop it from hurting.” - Nev Foulger, LCFC Radio.
Just as Jamie Vardy stepped up to take his spot-kick, Leicester’s fourth of the shoot-out, the script appeared to have been written for Claude Puel’s men to progress.
As the ball cannoned back off the post, though, it sparked new life into the visitors and inspired Claudio Bravo to make a smart save to keep out Riyad Mahrez later on.
Who impressed?
A key man in Leicester’s arsenal, Japan international Shinji Okazaki delivered the kind of energetic display that will come as no surprise to King Power Stadium regulars.
When all hope of reaching loose balls was seemingly lost, up stepped Okazaki to bamboozle his way ahead of anyone nearby to retrieve possession and get the Foxes back on the front foot.
Where does it leave us?
Leicester exit the Carabao Cup at the quarter-final stage after overcoming Sheffield United, Liverpool and Leeds United to reach this point.
An Emirates FA Cup Third Round tie at Fleetwood Town, however, keeps their hopes of reaching Wembley alive, on Saturday 6 January, 2018 (12:45pm kick-off).
Coming up...
Manchester United visit King Power Stadium on Saturday (7:45pm kick-off) ahead of the Boxing Day trip to Vicarage Road to tackle Watford (3pm kick-off).
Then, it's Liverpool at Anfield on Saturday 30 December before Huddersfield Town are City's guests on New Year's Day.