After finishing 5th in two successive Premier League campaigns, Leicester City are now battling to break into the European places via the league.
Leicester currently sit 9th in the Premier League table and their most realistic chance of playing European football next season is by winning the UEFA Europa Conference League. Brendan Rodgers’ men have won less than 40 per cent of their league games, taking 11 victories from 29 matches. Despite having two games in hand over Manchester United and three over West Ham and Wolves, the Foxes will need a miracle if they are to finish inside the top six for a third straight season.
🦊 Leicester have won 7 of their last 12 games in all competitions 👏@LCFC | #UECL pic.twitter.com/D5vjeYxCKi
— UEFA Europa Conference League (@europacnfleague) April 11, 2022
The Conference League was inaugurated this season as Europe’s tertiary club competition with the intention of providing lesser teams, particularly from smaller nations, with the opportunity to partake in continental football. Whereas the Champions League houses at least four teams from England, just one qualifies for the Conference League via the final Premier League standings. Tottenham Hotspur qualified for the UECL group stages but were eliminated after finishing 3rd in Group G, and Leicester were demoted to the Conference League after also placing 3rd in their Europa League group.
Rodgers’ side cruised past Danish outfit Randers, 7-2 on aggregate, in the Round of 16 playoffs before they overcame Stade Rennais in the Round of 16 with a 3-2 aggregate score. Standing in between the Foxes and the Conference League semifinals are Dutch heavyweights PSV. After they captured the FA Cup – Community Shield double last year, Rodgers has now urged his players to rewrite the history books by earning the club its first European semifinal. Leicester reached the Champions League quarter-finals five years ago after they were remarkably crowned Premier League champions in 2016.
Let’s do this! 👊 🔵#PsvLei pic.twitter.com/NccAc41mbv
— Leicester City (@LCFC) April 14, 2022
The Foxes’ season has been treacherous on all fronts but they hope to put their struggles behind them as they travel to the Netherlands. The two teams drew 0-0 in the first leg, leaving everything on the line on Thursday in Eindhoven. While Leicester are solely dependent on Conference League success, PSV have their sights on bagging at least one piece of silverware as they take on Ajax in the KNVB Beker final on Sunday, and they are also four points shy of the Eredivisie leaders.
The winners between Leicester and PSV meet either AS Roma or Bodø/Glimt in the semis, while the corresponding semifinal will be contested by Feyenoord / Slavia Prague and Marseille / PAOK. The final takes place on Wednesday 25 May in the Albanian capital of Tirana.
The Conference League champions are guaranteed a spot in next season’s Europa League group stage, unless they qualify for the Champions League via their domestic league position in which case the Europa berth would be allocated to the next-best finisher based on the UEFA club coefficients.
