Brendan Rodgers hails Wesley Fofana after goalscoring return
Leicester reached the last eight of the Europa Conference League.
Your support helps us to tell the story
From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.
At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.
The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.
Your support makes all the difference.Boss Brendan Rodgers hailed comeback king Wesley Fofana as Leicester reached the Europa Conference League quarter finals.
Defender Fofana marked his return after seven months out with a broken leg with the crucial goal in Rennes to send the Foxes into the last eight, despite a 2-1 defeat.
Flavien Tait won it for the hosts on Thursday but the Foxes hung on to sneak through 3-2 on aggregate.
Fofana cancelled out Benjamin Bourigeaud’s early opener and Leicester survived Rennes’ late onslaught.
The 21-year-old, who has recently recovered from Covid, had been out since August but was the hero in France.
“He’s an amazing player. That’s what top players do, they come in – he’s only been back in training a few weeks – and they want to go and head it,” Rodgers told BT Sport.
“That’s something we’ve really missed a lot of the season. Someone with that mentality – and that’s a top player’s mentality.
“He’s such a massive prospect and now we’ve just got to try and build his fitness up.
“Over the two legs, I think if you beat Rennes and qualify then you know there’s a lot that’s been really good.
“I think with the ball we were really, really poor. I thought our football in the game, especially in the first half, was nowhere near what I’d expect.
“But what we did show was a real character and games like that, especially with lots of players missing and lots of young players tasting this level for the first time, it’s character building for them.”
Bourigeaud bundled in from close range after just eight minutes but the hosts failed to build on their early momentum.
They were aggressive but Leicester held firm and managed to stabilise, despite losing Marc Albrighton to a groin injury, and Harvey Barnes wasted a fine opening after 16 minutes.
The Foxes gradually began to wrestle control and, after Dogan Alemdar saved Daniel Amartey’s header, Fofana glanced in the resulting corner six minutes into the second half.
Iheanacho’s header was ruled out for offside with 17 minutes left and Rennes went ahead on the night soon after when Tait found the bottom corner.
The hosts threw everything at the Foxes and Kasper Schmeichel’s brilliant save from Serhou Guirassy with five minutes left sent Leicester through.
Midfielder Bourigeaud told UEFA.com: “I don’t have any regrets because we played really well. We just lacked that little bit of luck. I’m frustrated and, of course, disappointed because we wanted to go through. But we can be proud of how we played.”
Join our commenting forum
Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies
Comments