ROME (AFP) -Brendan Rodgers admitted he doesn’t know what the Europa Conference League is after Leicester’s 3-2 defeat at Napoli condemned them to a place in the unheralded competition on Thursday.
Napoli sent Leicester crashing out of the Europa League as the Italian side advanced to the knockout stages in a dramatic conclusion to Group C.
Leicester were top of the group going into the final round of matches, but the defeat in Naples dropped them to third place, meaning they will enter UEFA’s third-tier tournament in the knockout play-off round in February.
“I’ve got to be honest I don’t even know what the competition is,” Rodgers said of the Europa Conference League.
Napoli had blown a two-goal lead as Leicester hit back to level by half-time, but Eljif Elmas’s second goal of the game won it for the hosts after the interval.
Spartak Moscow finished top of the group after a 1-0 win at Legia Warsaw, secured by Zelimkhan Bakaev’s 17th-minute goal.
Leicester, beset by Covid-19 cases and other illnesses, would have salvaged their Europa League place if Legia’s Tomas Pekhart hadn’t missed a stoppage-time penalty.
Napoli ended in second place, two points ahead of Leicester, and will feature in the Europa League knockout round play-offs in February.
Injury-hit Napoli took the lead in the fourth minute as Adam Ounas marked his first start for the club since 2019 with a clinical low strike from just inside the penalty area.
Napoli struck again in the 24th minute when Andrea Petagna beat Leicester’s offside trap and squared his pass to Elmas, who slotted past Kasper Schmeichel with ease.
Jonny Evans gave Leicester hope when he fired home after Napoli failed to clear James Maddison’s 27th-minute free-kick.