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The Foxes return to the European competition and on the hunt for the trophy as they face 1995-96 UEFA Cup Semi-Finalists, Slavia Praha.
Leicester travel to the Czech Republic in a confident mood after beating current Premier League champions Liverpool 3-1 last weekend at the King Power Stadium.
The sides were goalless at half-time, but the floodgates were opened in the last half an hour of the match as the match had a fantastic end.
Mohamed Salah gave Liverpool in the 67th minute. Roberto Firmino laid the ball off to the Egyptian with the current Premier League top goalscorer curling the ball beyond Kasper Schmeichel.
James Maddison’s free-kick was able to go through a sea of bodies and made its way into the bottom left-hand corner of Alisson’s goal in the 78th minute.
An awful error from the Liverpool goalkeeper saw him collide with new signing Ozan Kabak as Jamie Vardy was left with the simple task of tapping the ball into the back of the net.
Harvey Barnes set the score at 3-1 in the 85th minute after he slotted it beyond Alisson as the Champions fell to another loss, their third successive league defeat.
The three points for the Foxes saw them move up to joint second with Manchester United on 46 points, seven points behind league leaders Manchester City.
Brendan Rodgers’ men had a near-flawless run in the group stages of the Europa League as they entered the European competition for the first time since 2016/17.
Four wins out of six matches saw the Foxes qualify for the knockout stages as Group G winners, ahead of runners-up Braga on goal difference.
A dramatic 3-3 draw in Portugal against Braga and a 1-0 defeat in Ukraine against Zorya Luhansk were the only wobbles that the East Midlands club experienced but still qualified out of the group in convincing fashion.
Slavia Praha, similarly to Leicester, had a very good run in the group stage of this year’s Europa League as they qualified for the knockout stages as runners-up of Group C.
They lost two times in the group as they fell to a 3-1 defeat against Hapoel Be’er Sheva on Matchday One and then were dominated and destroyed by Bayer Leverkusen 4-0 on Matchday Six.
The Czech Republic club have floated in between the Champions League and the Europa League ever since their first entry into the European competitions back in the 1974/75 season where they entered the UEFA Cup’s Winner Cup.
Their best run in the Europa League came only two seasons ago in 2018/19. Having qualified as Runners-Up, they went onto beat KRC Genk 4-1 on aggregate in the Round of 32. In the Round of 16, they faced the competitions most successful club, then five-time winners Sevilla.
Praha went onto beat the La Liga side after extra-time in the second leg to book their place in the last eight of the competition.
They failed to continue their run as eventual winners Chelsea would knock the Czech champions out of the competition, 5-3 on aggregate.
Leicester City and Slavia Praha have never faced each other before as a first meeting against the sides is scheduled for a gruelling match with the Foxes’ a slightly better side.
That goes without saying that Rodgers’ men are facing a side that has not been beaten in the league in their last 19 matches having won 16 and drawn on just three occasions.
Injuries have plagued the 2015/16 Premier League champions with a number of key players out with injury. Timothy Castagne, Wesley Fofana, James Justin, Wes Morgan, Ayoze Perez and Dennis Praet are all out which leaves a rather depleted side that Brendan Rodgers can pick from.
Victory will be key for the Foxes but the Czech Republic side will not leave without a battle as they look to replicate their European success of two years ago in this competition.
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