The King Power Stadium was treated to a thrilling first-ever European semi-final as Leicester City earned a hard-fought draw in the first leg, knowing very well that they have all the chances in the world to upset Jose Mourinho’s Roma from winning their first-ever UEFA title in history. With the 1-1 draw, the Giallorossi have now not tasted victory in England since 2001 – a streak of 14 winless matches.An onslaught of relentless attacks got things rolling for the hosts, as they went painfully close to opening the scoring within five minutes from Timothy Castagne’s diving header that skimmed past the right post. However, a quickfire counterattack on the other end poised Nicola Zalewski to sublimely feed Lorenzo Pellegrini’s powerful finish from the left flank and put Roma in the driving seat just ten minutes later.Despite having scored a 12th away goal in the Europa Conference League, the Italians couldn’t help but face a skulk of hungry Foxes, who held the ball with authority, denying the visitors a single chance to force keeper Kasper Schmeichel into a save. Seeking a seventh straight unbeaten European game at home this season, the Leicester faithful continued rallying their team in the hopes of an equaliser that never arrived as the halftime whistle approached.A host of substitutions by Brendan Rodgers after the hour mark changed the face of the game as Leicester finally equalised from their 11th attempt on goal, thanks to Ademola Lookman forcing Gianluca Mancini into tapping home an own-goal after some impressive team play by the home outfit.The Special One was then forced to change his tactical outlook, but that made little difference as Leicester substitute Kelechi Iheanacho almost handed the hosts their second from a terrific edge-of-the-box shot that went wide of the left post. Minutes later, Schmeichel was called into action for the first time in the match from Sérgio Oliveira’s effort that was headed into the top corner, before the Danish shotstopper stood strong to keep scores level.The Giallorossi’s suppressed attacking display saw them fail to avoid a third straight winless match, a result they will hope does no harm going into the second leg next week. Leicester on the other hand, will muster inspiration from their performance and count their chances of going all the way to the finals.Elsewhere, Feyenoord drew first blood in the second semi-final, as a Cyriel Dessers brace helped the hosts to a 3-2 first-leg win over Marseille and saw him become the competition’s outright top goalscorer with 10 goals.Dessers missed a golden opportunity to put the hosts in front after blazing a close-range shot over the bar, while Ofir Marciano denied Bamba Dieng down the other end from Dimitri Payet’s pass in an electric start to the match. However, it was Dessers that struck first for Arne Slot’s men, as he clinically fired past Steve Mandanda from Luis Sinisterra’s back-heel assist. It was the Nigerian’s ninth goal of the competition, which moved him one above Tammy Abraham in the goalscorers’ list.Les Olympiens were shell-shocked and conceded a second less than three minutes later through Sinisterra, whose deflected strike found its way past Mandanda after being picked out by Reiss Nelson. This breathless encounter took another twist when Dieng halved the deficit in emphatic fashion at the end of a free-flowing move for his first-ever European goal. Then, Feyenoord’s lead was wiped out when Marciano could only palm Matteo Guendouzi’s ball across the box into the path of Gerson to smash home an equaliser.It took just 11 seconds into the second half for De club aan de Maas to re-establish their lead in a defensive horror show from the visitors. Duje Ćaleta-Car’s sloppy back-pass was intercepted by Dessers to get his second of the game and his 10th in 11 Conference League appearances.Slot’s side were seemingly content to hold onto their lead and dropped deeper, allowing Marseille more time on the ball. But the familiar defensive frailties from Jorge Sampaoli’s men almost came back to haunt them, but their blushes were spared when Mandanda made a fine save at his near post to deny Dessers a hat-trick. The visitors came close to levelling the scores once again, as William Saliba headed wide from a Payet corner.It all leaves the tie finely poised heading into next week’s decisive second leg at the Stade Vélodrome.UEFA EUROPA CONFERENCE LEAGUESemi-finalsThursdayFeyenoord – Olympique Marseille 3-2 (2-2)/Dessers 18, 46, Sinisterra 20 – Dieng 28, Gerson 40/Leicester – Roma 1-1 (0-1)/Mancini 67 og – Pellegrini 15/©FlashScore
