Poor Leicester shocked by Slavia Prague

Leicester were dumped out of the Europa League by Czech side Slavia Prague after turning in a miserable display at the King Power Stadium.

Jamie Vardy was kept quiet by efficient if limited opposition, and a spirited second-half showing from the visitors earned a shock win.

Midfielder Lukas Provod volleyed in the opener before 19-year-old striker Abdallah Sima wrapped up a thoroughly deserved victory with a fine low drive late on.

Slavia were raided by West Ham for defender Vladimir Coufal and midfielder Tomas Soucek in the last year and could soon be fielding more Premier League interest after this superb win.

Sima, in particular, looks a real asset.

Rodgers – who has now lost at this stage of the competition on five occasions – could still steer the Foxes into the Champions League next year, of course.

But he will have to hope that this insipid display was a one-off and not a sign that last season’s late collapse could be about to be repeated.

Foxes left feeling flat

Leicester had only lost once in 2021 and were counted among the favourites to go deep into the Europa League.

But throughout the 90 minutes they failed to find any sense of spark or adventure without the excellence and inspiration of Maddison and Barnes. They never looked like joining Manchester United,Arsenal and Tottenham in the last 16.

The best chance of a cagey first half-hour saw a long clearance catch out the Leicester backline and Sima clip a lob just wide.

The Czech leaders are unbeaten in the league but it was still a surprise when they capped a bright start to the second period with the opener.

Nicolae Stanciu’s deep cross caught left-back Luke Thomas out and Provod was all alone to steer a volley in and leave Leicester needing to score twice to progress.

Rodgers reacted swiftly with a triple change featuring the introduction of Barnes but, despite a marked rise in tempo, there was no change to the script.

Vardy and Barnes had shots blocked but Slavia were rarely troubled and were able to secure their place in the last 16 when Sima was afforded space to turn and drill home past Kasper Schmeichel from outside the area.

Victory was celebrated in style by the visitors, with Hammers midfielder Soucek joining in via video call.

The stats

• Leicester suffered their first home defeat in any European competition since September 1997 against Atletico Madrid in the Uefa Cup, ending a run of nine such matches without defeat (W7 D2).
• Slavia Prague picked up just their second win over an English club in all competitions (March 2000 v Leeds United), and first away from home in their sixth such visit (D1 L4 previously).
• Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers has been eliminated from all five of his Europa League knockout ties as a manager (all last 32) – with Liverpool in 2012-13 and 2014-15, Celtic in 2017-18 and 2018-19 and Leicester this season.
• Slavia Prague won an away knockout stage match in a major European competition (excluding qualifiers) while also keeping a clean sheet for the first time since September 2000, a 2-0 Uefa Cup win over Akademisk Boldklub.
• Lukas Provod’s goal was Slavia Prague’s first shot on target of the night against Leicester, ending the Foxes’ run of 234 minutes without conceding a goal in the Europa League.
• Abdallah Sima’s four goals for Slavia Prague is the most by a teenager in this season’s Europa League.