BEVERLY HILLS, December 03, (THEWILL) –Â Ukrainian Premier League side Zorya Luhansk took down Leicester City 1-0 at the Slavutych Arena leaving Brendan Rodgers’ side with some extra work to do if they are to finish top of their UEFA Europa League Group G.
Having secured progress to the knockout stages, Rodgers rested regulars like forward Jamie Vardy, keeper Kasper Schmeichel, defender Jonny Evans and midfielder Youri Tielemans on Thursday. Instead, he used the trip to Ukraine to hand minutes to returning trio of midfielder Wilfred Ndidi, and defenders Ricardo Pereira and Caglar Soyuncu.
It was unfortunate that upon his return, Soyuncu went off injured after just 17 minutes. That injury compounded Leicester’s slow start, though winger Cengiz Under should have put the Foxes ahead just after the half-hour, but he drilled wide when one-on-one with Zorya goalie Nicola Vasilj.
Letting chances go unutilised could have cost Leicester but their keeper Danny Ward showed keen awareness for a strong save from left back Andrejs Ciganiks’ blistering strike.
Under provider Leicester another chance with a superb free-kick in the 75th minute, but defender Wesley Fofana, left unmarked in the centre of the penalty area, could only direct his connecting header well wide of goal.
Leicester centre forward Kelechi Iheanacho, who was involved in all of Leicester’s goals when they beat Zorya 3-0 in the reverse fixture, saw his low shot cause trouble for Vasilj. But, the keeper recovered quickly to keep out substitute James Maddison’s follow up.
The hosts made all their efforts count when in the 84th minute, 19-year-old substitute Allahyar Sayyadmanesh sliding in to score at the back post just three minutes after coming on. Vasilj still had to make an excellent stop to deny Under to ensure Zorya claimed the points.
Leicester will now need to beat AEK Athens next week to guarantee first place and by so doing avoid one of the teams dropping into Europa from the Champions League.
Leicester are next at Bramall Lane on Sunday to play struggling Sheffield United in the Premier League, while Zorya host SC Dnipro on the same day.
Jude Obafemi is a versatile senior Correspondent at THEWILL Newspapers, excelling in sourcing, researching, and delivering sports news stories for both print and digital publications.
