A Jose Mourinho masterclass sucked the life out of Leicester who saw their Europa Conference League dreams end against Roma at the penultimate hurdle.
Jamie Vardy led the Leicester line with hopes high of advancing to the final of the Europa Conference League. James Justin got the nod ahead of Timothy Castagne at left-back.
Tammy Abraham and Chris Smalling started for Roma with Sergio Oliveira in after Henrikh Mkhitaryan picked up an injury in the first leg at the King Power, which finished 1-1.
Leicester could count themselves unlucky to not be awarded a penalty inside five minutes. Chris Smalling hauled Wesley Fofana to the ground at a corner, though Leicester’s appeals fell on deaf ears and VAR surprisingly saw nothing doing.
That foray into Roma’s half was a rare one inside the first 10 minutes with the Italians piling on the pressure with a series of set pieces. Keeping opponents quiet from the dead ball has been a conundrum Brendan Rodgers has been unable to solve this season.
Almost inevitably, the pressure told when Tammy Abraham rose high above Ricardo Pereira to thunder his header past Kasper Schmeichel.
TAMMY ABRAHAM! WHAT A HEADER! 🤩
A fantastic corner from Lorenzo Pellegrini is fiercely met by Roma’s number nine 💥
Incredible start at the Olimpico! 🙌#UECL pic.twitter.com/HkXukUDGNe
— Football on BT Sport (@btsportfootball) May 5, 2022
If the Foxes were to make the first European final in their history, they would have to do it from behind in the cauldron of the Stadio Olimpico.
The visitors weathered the storm and began to find their footing in Rome. Possession was easy to come by, but testing Rui Patricio between the sticks was another matter entirely.
The scores remained 1-0 (2-1 on aggregate) as the half-time whistle blew. With zero shots on target, Leicester’s only way from here was up.
Rodgers shuffled his deck at the break, replacing Ademola Lookman and the ineffective Harvey Barnes with Daniel Amartey and Kelechi…