Brendan Rodgers’ Europa League Round of 32 curse continues as Leicester are knocked out by Slavia Praha

Leicester City are out of the UEFA Europa League as they fell to a 2-0 defeat to Slavia Prague at the King Power Stadium.

The East Midlands side were way below par and struggled in terms of creating chances over the two legs.

It was Leicester who had the first chance of the first-half as Cengiz Under’s shot/cross was stopped by Ondřej Kolář leg and the ball fell kindly for Caglar Soyuncu. The defender lashed his boot at the ball but saw his effort go over the bar.

Rodgers’ Turkish winger had another effort as he looked to trouble the opposition goalkeeper. He unleashed a shot outside the box, but it proved comfortable save for the Slavia Praha shot-stopper.

Marc Albrighton then made an impressive interception and released Jamie Vardy into the Czech League champions half. The number nine ran into some trouble as the ball flicked off of Alexander Bah’s heel and into the path of Albrighton with his effort blocked out for a corner.

But the visitors started to make chances of their own, Nicolae Stanciu played a long ball which was looking for Abdallah Sima. Soyuncu headed the ball behind him and into the path of Slavia’s number 12 who lashed an effort wide of Kasper Schmeichel’s right post.

Bah then crossed the ball into Jan Kuchta with the Czech forward heading his effort off-target in what was one of a few attempts for Praha’s number 16 over the two legs.

Four minutes into the second-half the visitors found a way through. Stanciu’s wonderful cross found Lukas Provod who swept the ball into the back of the net to give the Czech Republic champions the lead, and that crucial away goal.

Leicester looked for a response straight away as Under looked to skip past his marker, but the Turks shot was only able to find the side-netting.

Sima would get his goal in the 79th minute as he doubled Slaha Praha’s lead and sealed their place in the the next round. Peter Olayinka found the forward in space and picked him out with a delightful pace. The Senegalese 19-year-old saw the goal gaping and unleashed a shot from outside the box that nestled into the bottom corner of the Leicester goal.

After a stellar group stage, the Foxes simply did not turn up to this fixture and were defeated by the better side on the night.

They become the first side to lose against Praha on English soil, the Czech side were compact at the back and explosive when they needed to going forward.

Now Leicester will turn attention back to the Premier League and the FA Cup. It will be a tough few months for the Foxes who will look to finish in top-four, as well as gain a piece of silverware.

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