Brendan Rodgers and his Leicester City side made it their goal to qualify for the Champions League and compete with some of the biggest clubs in the world. In the last season, they missed out on the Premier League fourth spot and had to settle for a place in Europe’s second-best tournament – the Europa League.What happened to Leicester – also happened to Napoli. The Italian side was a Champions League regular for years until they missed out on a Champions League spot on the last day of last season’s Serie A race. Again, they had to settle.Rumble in the New World: Vardy’s club joins the newly-founded leagueTonight, these two teams will meet in Naples knowing that only a win would guarantee a place in the Europa League knockout stage. It’s time to show that last season’s failure hasn’t defined them. It’s time to push on.The Foxes have to put the disappointments of the Premier League behind them when they run out onto the pitch of the historic Stadio Diego Armando Maradona in Naples but they’ll have to overcome a Covid crisis along with their reputable hosts. Manager Rodgers revealed on Wednesday that seven players were unable to travel after another wave of infections in England – the one that forced the postponement of Tottenham’s Europa Conference League match against Stade Rennais.”We’ve had some positive cases, some are generally not well, so we haven’t taken the risk. We will have seven unavailable. It’s been last few days really. In general, you’re starting to see a few more cases and, for us, it’s always about the health of our players. Travelling to a foreign country, we have to respect travelling into Italy. We still have a strong squad here, but unfortunately it’s not a fully fit squad.””Any time you come to a well-established European club like Napoli, it’s a big test for you.” 🇮🇹#NapLei pic.twitter.com/44gCNmwsUU— Leicester City (@LCFC) December 8, 2021 Kelechi Iheanacho, Ademola Lookman, Daniel Amartey and Jannik Vestergaard are among those who were not on the plane to Naples, although Youri Tielemans is available again after overcoming a calf strain.The Neapolitans have worries of their own, having now picked up just four points from their last four league games, following a previously unbeaten start and have even been toppled from the summit of Serie A.During their dip in form, Napoli also suffered a 2-1 defeat away to Spartak in their last Europa League game outing. That win gave the Russian side a chance to make the final matchday a thrilling one. Leicester top a fiercely competitive group but all four sides still have their fate in their own hands.📍 Naples, Italy 🇮🇹#NapLei 🔜 pic.twitter.com/fghNWwBTt6— Leicester City (@LCFC) December 9, 2021 UEFA EUROPA LEAGUEGroup stage – matchday 6Thursday20.45: (3.15) Fenerbahce (3.40) Eintr.Frankfurt (2.40)20.45: (3.80) Antwerp (3.50) Olympiakos (2.10)20.45: (1.72) Sparta Praha (3.80) Brondby (5.40)20.45: (1.88) Olympique Lyon (3.80) Rangers (4.30)20.45: (2.85) Legia (3.20) Spartak Moscow (2.75)20.45: (2.15) Napoli (3.60) Leicester (3.50)20.45: (5.00) Sturm (3.70) Monaco (1.80)20.45: (2.00) Sociedad (3.60) PSV (4.00)23.00: (6.25) Ludogorets (3.80) Midtjylland (1.65)23.00: (1.65) Lazio (4.00) Galatasaray (5.80)23.00: (1.35) Olympique Marseille (5.60) Lok.Moscow (9.00)23.00: (2.95) Celtic (3.50) Betis (2.50)23.00: (4.10) Ferencvaros (3.80) Leverkusen (1.92)23.00: (1.90) Braga (3.60) Crvena Zvezda (4.40)23.00: (1.58) Genk (4.30) Rapid (6.25)23.00: (2.00) West Ham (3.60) Dinamo Zagreb (4.00)***odds are subject to change
