Brendan Rodgers says he does not “even know” what the Europa Conference League is after his Leicester side were demoted to the competition thanks to their 3-2 Europa League defeat at Napoli.

It leaves the Foxes to drop into the knockout play-offs of European club football’s third-tier tournament in February, for which the draw takes place on Monday.

“I’ve got to be honest I don’t even know what the competition is,” Rodgers told BT Sport.

“I was focused on the Europa League and winning this group and at the very least finishing second. But I am sure I will find out soon enough.”

A dramatic conclusion to the evening saw Leicester almost given a late reprieve because of events over 1,000 miles away in Poland, when a stoppage time penalty was awarded to Legia Warsaw in their fixture against Spartak Moscow.

But Tomas Pekhart’s spot-kick was saved by Spartak goalkeeper Aleksandr Selikhov, to ensure his side progressed as group winners instead of slipping down to third.

Rodgers was aware his side contributed heavily to their own downfall against an injury-ravaged Napoli side.

“We were good offensively but it was nowhere near good enough [overall],” Rodgers added.

Adam Ounas’ early goal set the tone for an error-strewn display, with Caglar Soyuncu’s ill-advised pass beginning the passage of play that saw the Algeria winger register his first Napoli goal since April 2019.

Ryan Bertrand was at fault as Luciano Spalletti’s side extended their lead, playing Andrea Petagna onside, with the forward in turn squaring for Eljif Elmas to tap home. But the Foxes responded in superb fashion with Jonny Evans driving in an immediate response after a free-kick was only partially cleared and Kiernan Dewsbury-­Hall levelling matters with a precise left-foot volley from the edge of the penalty area.

However, another defensive lapse, from a Leicester side whose last clean sheet came on the opening day of the Premier League season, proved decisive.

Bertrand, Harvey Barnes and Timothy Castagne were all guilty of not marking tightly enough as Giovanni di Lorenzo picked out Elmas, who allowed the ball to run across his body before driving it into the bottom right corner.

Familiar failings cost Foxes

Leicester travelled to Italy in the knowledge that several permutations, including a defeat, could have seen them advance, while Napoli knew that only a win would suffice.

And while Napoli shook off some patchy Serie A form to achieve their objective, Leicester’s struggle for consistency, and the passive defending which has underlined an underwhelming campaign so far, continued.

On paper the Foxes’ strong starting XI, including the likes of Youri Tielemans and Jamie Vardy, looked more than capable of having the measure of a side shorn of Kalidou Koulibaly, Victor Osimhen and Lorenzo Insigne amongst others.

But there was little evidence of that on the pitch, bar a 20-minute period at the end of the first half when they recovered from that two-goal deficit.

While James Maddison struck a post and Evans emerged as the only Leicester defender worthy of credit, they have now conceded two goals or more in five of their past six matches and worryingly also have a combination of Covid-19 cases and illness in the squad to contend with.

Sourced From BBC