the times | Friday March 18 2022 2GM 63
Sport
At the end it needed a line of stewards
to keep the two sets of players and
their wildly differing emotions apart.
On one side, Leicester City’s battered
and bruised young team were head-
ing to celebrate with the 1,100 away
supporters in a corner of a raucous
Roazhon Park. On the other were a
seething home team who could not
quite believe that they had fallen so
agonisingly close.
Whatever mockery remained for
the Europa Conference League end-
ed in a cauldron of noise in northwest
France. Watch a rerun of this game to
see what it means to players and fans.
There was anger to go with the agony
and the ecstasy.
There was a penalty appeal for
handball against Kiernan Dewsbury-
Hall in the eighth minute of stoppage
time. At that point, when the referee,
Anastasios Sidiropoulos, turned
down the claim, despite real fury, and
then signalled Leicester had reached
the quarter-final of a European com-
petition for the second time in their
history, James Maddison, who had
been booked seconds earlier for a foul
and then delaying the quick taking of
a free kick, clenched his fists in
celebration.
For that act, he appeared to be
pushed in the face by Hamari Traoré,
the Rennes captain. In the fifth min-
ute of stoppage time James Justin was
twice pushed in the face by Warmed
Omari, who had just been booked for
the Leicester goalkeeper denied
Guirassy from point-blank range
with his leg.
“I said to him afterwards that his
ability to do that has been [there]
right the way through his career,”
Rodgers said. “It was a massive save. It
shows the importance he has to the
team.”
There was praise too for the rest of
his side. “Courage is one thing they
have,” Rodgers added. “They are
character-building games for this
young team. Most of these young
boys haven’t experienced this pres-
sure and an atmosphere like that.
They gave absolutely everything.”Leicester win 3-2 on agg
Europa Conference League
Round-of-16, second leg
Martin Hardy
Rodgers’ young
side drown out
the noise with
display of guts
an awful challenge on the midfielder
Harvey Barnes.
It was a night when Brendan Rodg-
ers gave credit to the courage of his
players. He was right to do so. It was
a game in which this young side could
so easily have buckled. When fury
faded, praise was needed for what
Leicester had achieved.
Wesley Fofana, in his first start for
the team in a meaningful game in ten
months, was heroic. The 21-year-old
cancelled out Benjamin Bourigeaud’s
seventh-minute opener. It had been a
frenzy then, when Bourigeaud had
scored in front of such a vociferous
crowd. Rodgers said afterwards that
it was one of the best atmospheres he
had ever been involved in.
Leicester somehow found a way to
stay in the game in the first half and
then forced Rennes back for periods
in the second. Fofana was supposed
to last an hour in his first game since
snapping his fibula in August, but
went off with cramp in the 78th min-
ute. Dewsbury-Hall was struggling
with the same problem in the
80th minute, though the midfielder
saw the game through. Wilfred Ndidi
tried to continue after injuring him-
self in a crunching challenge but
limped off after 60 minutes.
The equaliser, when Fofana rose to
plant a superb header from an Adem-
ola Lookman corner into the bottom
corner of Dogan Alemdar’s goal, gave
Leicester something to hold on to.
They needed it when, after a superb
run by the left back Adrien Truffert
with 15 minutes remaining, the ball
was laid off by the substitute Serhou
Guirassy to Flavien Tait, also off the
bench, and he drilled in Rennes’s
second, reducing the aggregate
advantage of Rodgers’s side to one.
It needed a moment of brilliance
from Kasper Schmeichel to see the
job out. With five minutes remaining,Rennes
Bourigeaud 8, Tait 76Leicester City
Fofana 512
1
Rennes (4-4-2): D Alemdar 6 — H Traoré 6,
W Omari 7, N Aguerd 6, A Truffert 8 (B Meling
76min) — L Majer 8, J Martin 6 (F Tait 58, 7),
B Santamaría 7 — B Bourigeaud 7, G Laborde 6
(L Tchaouna 76), M Terrier 7 (S Guirassy 68,
6). Booked Laborde, Aguerd, Bourigeaud,
Omari, Traore.
Leicester (4-3-3): K Schmeichel 8 — J Justin 7,
D Amartey 7, W Fofana 8 (J Vestergaard 78),
L Thomas 7 — Y Tielemans 6, W Ndidi 6
(J Maddison 60, 6), K Dewsbury-Hall 7 —
M Albrighton 3 (A Lookman 12, 6; Pereira 78),
K Iheanacho 7, H Barnes 6. Booked Iheanacho,
Maddison, Dewsbury-Hall, Vestergaard.
Referee A Sidiropoulos (Gr).Fofana rises highest to equalise for Leicester, who overcame hostilities on and off pitchSTEPHANE MAHE/REUTERS
Aubameyang sends
Barça into last eight
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang
scored the winning goal as
Barcelona fought back from a
goal down to beat Galatasaray 2-1
and book their spot in the Europa
League quarter-finals.
After a goalless first leg at
Camp Nou, Xavi Hernández’s
team were left trailing in the
round-of-16 when Marcão headed
Galatasaray into a 28th-minute
lead in Istanbul. But Pedri drew
the visitors level before the
interval and Aubameyang, in the
49th minute, tapped in from
Frenkie de Jong’s pass.Rangers are starting to
believe, says manager
Giovanni van Bronckhorst said
that Rangers’ belief is growing
after they eliminated Red Star
Belgrade 4-2 on aggregate to
reach the Europa League quarter-
finals. Rangers, who were 3-0 up
from the first leg at Ibrox, could
afford to lose 2-1 in Serbia. Ryan
Kent equalised in the 56th minute
but Belgrade converted a last-
minute penalty.
“I’m very proud,” the Rangers
manager told BT Sport. “It’s a
great achievement. The belief is
only getting stronger.”and Gerrard may trip them too
Liverpool
Sat Apr 2 Watford (h) WIN
Liverpool are not quite
hitting the heights of their
title-winning season of
2019-20 but they are still
capable of winning the
league and this game
should be straightforward.
Sun Apr 10 Man City (a)
DRAW
See above
Sat Apr 16 Aston Villa (a)
DRAW
Gerrard didn’t win the
league in 17 seasons at
Anfield and I can see him
hindering Liverpool’s title
bid this year by having a
right go at Villa Park,
where the visitors lost 7-2
last season.
Tue Apr 19 Man Utd (h)
WIN
United have lost only two
of their past seven league games at
Anfield and will be desperate to
deny Liverpool the title but the
latter will go for the jugular and
probably just get over the line.
Sun Apr 24 Everton (h) WIN
Liverpool have the division’s best
home record and Everton the
worst away. But Everton should
have improved by then and
Liverpool may find it hard
facing two big rivals in a row.
Sat Apr 30 Newcastle (a) WIN
Newcastle still have little
goal threat and I can’t
imagine Mo Salah and co
failing to score at least twice
against a team Liverpool
haven’t lost to in ten games.
Sat May 7 Tottenham (h)
DRAW
Liverpool have lost only one
of their past 20 against
Tottenham but Harry Kane
and Son Heung-min have
been thorns in their side attimes and Antonio Conte can set up
Spurs to get something.
Sun May 15 Southampton (a) WIN
Southampton have only lost three
at home but I see Liverpool
dominating midfield, notably
through Thiago Alcântara, who I
think will play a big part for the rest
of the season.
Sun May 22 Wolves (h) WIN
Liverpool won at home to Wolves
on the last day of the 2018-19
season and I expect that to be
repeated – Jürgen Klopp’s teams
rarely switch off, whatever the
circumstances.
fAs it stands
Man City P29, Pts 70
Liverpool P29, Pts 69Predicted final standings
Man City P38, Pts 93
Liverpool P38, Pts 90FIRMINO