Leicester City left the King Power Stadium on level terms with Roma after the first leg of the UEFA Europa Conference League semi-final on Thursday.
The away side drew first blood as Lorenzo Pellegrini opened the scoring with a well-placed finish to beat Kasper Schmeichel in goal. The hosts eventually equalised thanks to an own-goal from Gianluca Mancini.
Leicester City’s Kasper Schmeichel – 7
The Danish keeper had a quiet game in goal as the Foxes were rarely troubled for the majority of the 90 minutes. There’s no doubt he would be frustrated to have conceded the opening goal but it was hard to blame the keeper in that situation.
Leicester’s captain made a strong save off Sergio Oliveira’s shot in the 80th minute that could have given the Italian side the lead heading into the second leg.
Timothy Castagne – N/A
The Belgian defender picked up an injury early in proceedings and was subbed off after 20 minutes. In that time he did nearly manage to score for the Foxes as his diving header from a corner went wide.
Wesley Fofana – 8.5
The French starlet was superb for the majority of the game. There will definitely be questions raised as to whether he could have done more to stop the opening goal but he made up for it with numerous last-ditch interceptions and tackles throughout the game.
Jonny Evans – 8
A strong performance from the Northern Irishman. He was strong at the back and distributed the ball well, with a number of quality cross-field passes to open up Roma’s midfield.
Ricardo Pereira – 7.5
The Portuguese defender was a constant threat in attack, but failed to find the final pass or touch to have a greater impact on the game. Defensively, it wasn’t the 28-year-old’s best game to say the least.
He was beaten far too easily in the lead-up to the opening goal and there were a number of occasions where he was caught out of position which left the home side open to a counter attack. However, he also made some important tackles in the second half to thwart the away side’s chances.
Youri Tielemans – 6
Tielemans was deployed in a slightly deeper role than usual to cover for the absence of a defensive midfielder on Thursday night. This meant that he spent more time distributing the ball around the back and to the midfield and wasn’t heavily involved going forward.
The 24-year-old made a noteworthy tackle in the attacking third late in the game that led to Kelechi Iheanacho having an opportunity to test Rui Patricio in goal. It wasn’t necessarily a poor performance from the Belgian but he was anonymous at times and didn’t have the same impact on the game that the Blue Army know he can.
Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall – 8
Leicester’s latest academy graduate was everywhere against Roma, helping out in defence and getting into advanced positions going forward. He made a number of key passes in the attacking third that led to chances for the home team.
James Maddison – 8
Back in his number 10 role, Maddison was a prominent figure for the 90 minutes as the East Midlands side dominated possession for the majority of the game. ‘Madders’ created numerous chances for himself and teammates but lacked the finish and was unable to make an impact on the scoresheet.
He had a late chance that he should have squared to Harvey Barnes which may have given Leicester a lead into the second leg.
Ademola Lookman – 8.5
The RB Leipzig loanee was a perennial threat to Jose Mourinho’s side in the first leg. He often found himself in space and whenever the Foxes were in a promising position he was regularly involved.
Lookman would be ruing his missed header early in the second half, when he was unmarked from a corner on the edge of the six-yard box. However, his work-rate was eventually rewarded as he forced Mancini to score an own-goal in the 67th minute.
Marc Albrighton – 6.5
Albrighton linked up well with Pereira in the first half and made countless crosses into the penalty area. However, he was often unable to find his man and his deliveries were easily defended by the visitors.
His work-rate was on show again as he pressed and wasn’t afraid to get stuck in, but he could also have put in a better effort to try and prevent Roma’s goal.
Jamie Vardy – 6
Leicester City’s talismanic striker made his return to the starting line-up, but struggled to have a major impact on proceedings. He made his trademark runs in behind the defence and linked up well with Maddison.
However, he was starved for service and was unable to create any major chances for himself.
James Justin – 7
‘JJ’ had a solid game after he was subbed on for Castagne after 20 minutes. He didn’t have much defensive work to do as Leicester City were on top for most of the game but was solid when needed.
Justin made a few promising runs but didn’t have the same impact in attack that Pereira had on the other side.
Harvey Barnes – 7.5
His substitution had an almost immediate impact as he was to thank for Leicester’s equaliser five minutes after he entered the game. However, he was unable to make any further impact for the final 25 minutes of the game when the game was there to be won.
Kelechi Iheanacho – 7
The Nigerian international had a greater impact as striker than his English counterpart. The 25-year-old linked up with the midfield and almost gave the King Power side a late lead, when his shot from the edge of the 18-yard-box was saved by a diving Patricio.
Ayoze Perez – N/A
LCFC’s hero in the quarter-final was unable to have the same influence off the bench in this fixture, as he was only given 10 minutes to make a difference.