Napoli vs Leicester City by Ethan Farmer

Napoli 3-2 Leicester City: The Foxes Are Out

Despite going into the match top of the group and with their destiny in their own hands, an entertaining match left Leicester City out of the Europa League. Their third placed finish means they have dropped into the Europa Conference League knockout play-offs, that will be played in February.

The Foxes started strong as in the third minute, they nearly took the lead. Kiernan Drewsbury-Hall drove forward down the left and played an invited ball across. It fell to Timothy Castagne, his effort was saved by Alex Meret and Mário Rui.

However, they started the match in the worst possible fashion as Napoli took the lead just four minutes in. The hosts took the lead through Adam Ounas as Napoli took advantage of Calgar Söyüncü’s pass, the Algerian’s second goal of the season.

Another defensive error let the Italian side double their lead just 20 minutes later. This time it was Ryan Bertrand playing Andrea Petagna onside. This allowed him to squad the ball to Eljif Elmas who had an easy tap in.

Just three minutes after going 2-0 down, Leicester got one back. James Maddison’s freekick was whipped in and it fell to Jonny Evans. The Northern Irishman hammered home, his second of the season.

Before half-time, Brendan Rodgers’ side had drawn level. Another James Maddison freekick was put into the box before Napoli half cleared it. It fell to Drewsbury-Hall on the edge of the box who volleyed it into the bottom corner.

However, Napoli came back. Luciano Spalletti’s side found joy down the right-hand side again but this time it came to fruition. Giovanni di Lorenzo found Elmas as he let the ball run across him before hitting it home, his fourth in the Europa League this campaign.

Despite the result, Leicester could have easily won it. They had chances such as the Castagne one along with Ndidi’s chance from a corner which was well blocked by Amir Rrahmani. Arguably their best chance came in the 55^th minute when Maddison latched onto the end of a bad pass before putting his shot wide from 10 yards out. But once again their defence cost them as they are still yet to keep a clean sheet since their opening day of the season win over Wolves.

This win put Napoli second on 10 points, behind Spartak Moscow and left Leicester on eight points. Due to Spartak’s win, Rodgers’ side fell from first to third and eliminate them from the Europa League. However, it could have been so different.

After the full-time whistle in Naples, Legia Warsaw had a penalty in the 98^th minute. With the Polish side 1-0 down, an equaliser would put Leicester through and Spartak down into third, but it wasn’t meant to be.

Aleksandr Selikhov saved Tomas Pekhart’s spot kick to keep the Russian side in the competition.