Leicester City lost 2-0 to Slavia Prague after being eliminated from the Europa League in the round of 32.
The first leg had ended goalless, giving Leicester a decent chance heading into the second leg.
However, they conceded early in the second half, and Lukas Provod scored an away goal for Slavia.
That meant Leicester needed to score twice, but they rarely put the Czech side’s bottom line to the test.
Instead, it was Slavia who scored next, with Abdallah Sima making it 2-0 in the 79th minute.
It turned out too much for Leicester to come back, ending their European campaign.
The determined and efficient Slavia deserved progress, as the failed Foxes were never able to continue the curse of Brendan Rodgers in the Europa League.
Rodgers has never reached the round of 16 of the competition after four previous misses with Liverpool and Celtic and his last foul on Thursday.
The wheels began to fail Leicester’s hopes in the Champions League this time last season, as they finally finished fifth and now they must ensure that this blow does not cause lasting damage.
He remains third in the Premier League, also facing the FA Cup quarter-finals with Manchester United next month, and the club is on an upward curve, but this defeat will hurt.
The Foxes were favorites, but Slavia boss Jindrich Trpisovsky predicted a defensive start and it turned out.
Leicester He struggled to get chances against the organized Czech champions, although they almost gave Slavia an opening in the 28th minute.
Caglar Soyuncu missed his clearance from Nicolae Stanciu’s long pass and Sima ran towards him, but his shot went wide with Kasper Schmeichel struggling.
Only a Cengiz Under cross center and an early low shot kept Ondrej Kolar on their toes and Slavia were prepared to wait as they slowly gained a foothold in the game with Jan Kuchta breaking through six minutes before the break.
Leicester struggles to create
Without the creativity of the injured James Maddison and the careers of Harvey Barnes, with the winger starting on the bench, Leicester could not generate any momentum and played into the hands of the visitors.
Jamie Vardy kicked up a billboard angrily when Kolar intercepted a cross to sum up the Foxes’ frustrations in the first half.
Vardy has now scored just once in 11 games, a one-goal gift from Alisson Becker against Liverpool, and the striker has yet to find the best gear before and after a minor hernia operation in January.
And their problems grew when Slavia opened the scoring four minutes into the second half.
Stanciu hung a deep cross to the far post and Provod came in unmarked to sweep a controlled volley past Schmeichel from seven yards.
It ended Leicester’s streak of 234 minutes without conceding in the Europa League and left the hosts with the need to score two goals.
Rodgers aimed to fix the Foxes’ lack of penetration with the triple substitution of Timothy Castagne, Ricardo Pereira and Barnes in the hour.
But the tough Slavia withstood the cool legs and resolved the tie with 11 minutes to go.
Sima picked up Peter Olayinka’s pass and when Soyuncu couldn’t close it, the forward found the bottom corner from 25 yards.
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