Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers will have some swatting up to do before his side’s next European fixture – starting with what exactly the Europa Conference League (ECL) is all about.
The Foxes started Thursday night top of Group C and with high hopes of reaching the last 16 of the Europa League.
Leicester might even have been relatively confident of finishing second, good enough for a spot in a play-off against the likes of Barcelona and other Champions League drop-outs, with the victor progressing to the last 16.
However, a 3-2 defeat in Naples, combined with Spartak Moscow saving a stoppage-time penalty to defeat Legia Warsaw, sent Leicester down to third in the group, and they will now play post-Christmas in the Europa Conference League, the third tier of continental club football.
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“I have to be honest, I don’t even know what the competition is,” Rodgers told BT Sport after being asked whether he thought Leicester could win it.
“I was focused on the Europa League and winning this group, or at the very least, finishing second.
“With all due respect to the competition, I don’t know what it is.
“I’m sure I’ll find out soon enough. The offensive side of our game is bright and we look like scoring goals.
“But you have to defend much better than we are at the moment. We need our solidity we had in the team to return.”
The tournament, which is effectively a third tier of European club football, was inaugurated by Uefa this season in an effort to involve even more teams in continental football, with all three interlinked in the qualification from group stage to knockouts.
Leicester will be one of eight teams in the draw for the ECL knockout play-offs as will Rodgers’ former club Celtic – although they cannot play each other as neither team will be seeded.
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Instead, they could face the likes of Maccabi Tel Aviv of Israel or Randers from Denmark, who are seeded having finished second in their group.
It means that if Leicester go all the way to the final of the Europa Conference League in Tirana on 25 May, they will have played a total of 15 games in Europe and thus far have only won two of their six.
They could be joined by Tottenham, who grabbed England’s only automatic qualification spot for the competition by finishing seventh in the Premier League.
Their ECL group-stage campaign is yet to be completed after the final game against Rennes was postponed due to a Covid outbreak at the club.
from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/3EHiH3P
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