Leicester City of England coach, Brendan Rodgers has expressed reservations with the potential suspension of The Foxes’ Nigerian attacker, Kelechi Iheanacho from next week’s UEFA EUROPEA League reverse fixture against Slavia Prague of Czech Republic.
Megasportsarena.com reports that a second half yellow card shown Iheanacho, few minutes after fellow-0Nigerian star, Wilfred Onyinyen Ndidi also went into the referee’s bad book, has left Rodgers fuming, as he believes the former Manchester City youngster was not at fault.
Rodgers was left questioning the ref’s decision, as reports emerged that Iheanacho will miss next week’s round of 32 return leg clash in Prague after he picked up his second booking in the competition, while playing as a second half substitute in a goalless draw on Thursday.
Iheanacho, who has scored three goals and provided four assists thus far in the second-tier European clubs’ competition, failed to hit target this time, as Harvey Barnes was denied by Slavia goalkeeper Ondrej Kolar in the first half but the visitors struggled to maintain their threat after the break.
They needed Kasper Schmeichel to turn Nico Stanciu’s drive over as the hosts were also left frustrated, while Marc Albrighton shot wide and James Maddison fired over inside the opening four minutes.
Nine minutes later Youri Tielemans’ crossfield ball released Barnes ahead of Alexander Bah and the winger burst into the box only to be denied by Kolar from close range, as the Czech champions created brief openings, with Bah heading the best of them wide at the far post, but they were restricted despite 14-goal top scorer Abdallah Sima’s endeavour.
With Jamie Vardy suffering a rare off night he was replaced after the hour by Iheanacho, who was immediately booked after catching Jakub Hromada and will miss next week’s second leg, while Maddison came off for Hamza Choudhury 12 minutes later as Rodgers ensured Leicester held firm
Rodgers, who has never reached the last 16 of the competition after four attempts with Liverpool of England and Celtic of Scotland, was critical of the decisions that led to bookings of both Iheanacho and Ndidi on the night.
The Foxes’ coach blasted: “I think we had Wilf booked and Kelechi for the use of the elbow and it was clear it wasn’t. They were challenging for the ball especially Wilf.”
