Leicester City failed to reach the knockout stages of the Europa League on Thursday evening. Instead, the club will enter the intermediate round of the Conference League after the winter. For that, trainer Brendan Rodgers will have to read up a bit.
The Leicester manager was asked by BT Sport whether his team is capable of winning the Conference League, but he was not prepared for that. “I have to be honest: I don’t even know what kind of competition it is. I was focused on the Europa League. We wanted to win this group, or at least finish second. With all due respect to the competition, but I don’t know anything of. I’ll find out soon enough.”
Rodgers’ statement is telling: the Conference League seems to have little prestige in England. Vitesse also noticed this in Tottenham Hotspur, which often did not play with the best players in group G. It enabled the Arnhemmers to stunt. The team is now in second place, although the question is whether Spurs will surpass that in a make-up game against Stade Rennais. Due to a corona wave within the selection, that match was canceled on Thursday evening and the question now is when – and perhaps even whether – the game will be overtaken.
Leicester itself has been sentenced to the Conference League after losing 3-2 to Napoli in a thrilling final game. Because Spartak Moscow won 0-1 at the same time at Legia Warsaw, that club grabbed the group win and Napoli can prepare as number two for the intermediate round of the Europa League. Leicester therefore plays that intermediate round in the Conference League. If Vitesse finishes above Tottenham, The Foxes are one of the possible opponents in that round.
