The team had no real surprises, maybe seeing James Justin in the line-up instead of Timothy Castagne, but that might have been a reason for as the Belgian have been a bit on and off lately. Castagne was missed from start.
Leicester came out in the first minutes as a positive unit, but it took only 10 minutes for Roma to score. Again from a set piece against. Tammy Abraham made the most of his clinical header and who ever marked him this time would have struggled to keep him down, what a majestic goal from the England international.
After that goal Leicester took control, but was not penetrating enough as Roma defenders stopped every attempt before the ball even came to the hands of Rui Patricio.
Despite a bit of pressure it all ebbed out first half with no clear chances to Leicester and a difficult 2nd half to go into. First half showed no real idea on how a goal could be scored as Jose Mourinho had done his lesson and Roma defenders kept Jamie Vardy quiet.
Brendan Rodgers did the obvious coming out 2nd half. Of course trying to take control and get more pressure on Roma. Taking off Harvey Barnes and Ademola Lookman, bringing on Kelechi Iheanacho and Daniel Amartey, change the formation and mirror Roma in 3-5-2.
This made a bit of difference as Leicester managed to push higher up the field, but they were not really a big threath with a James Maddison shot form distance being the only real chance to see getting any strike in between the goal posts.
Kasper Schmeichel had a few good saves from Roma attempts in the other direction. Kasper had a safe hand. Again it felt as if Roma would really win this. They looked calm and had control through the game.
Leicester had a lot of possession but it all watered out to zero. To play with so much possession and not be able to use it to anything is a bit of a copy from previous games. A lot of passes backwards and wide to each flank without getting the turns into the penalty area and just pushing the ball around in midfield.
Brendan Rodgers does not have an alternative player to use for the high ball when you cannot get through the middle and as we did see this was a key for Mourinho with Abraham and his height really the difference between the two teams.
Leicester did try to fight and should be honoured for that, but did not get any further than to the semi’s of this tournament being the halmstraw of European success this season. Rome will face another European top team in the final, Dutch club Feyenoord.
- Positives
- Making a change 2nd half that made Leicester a bit better
- Being able to play Roma low
- Kasper Schmeichel and Wesley Fofana, both very positive
- Negatives:
- Not really a smart game plan on how to win
- Again bad marking inside your own penalty box on the Abraham goal
- Losing a game having much possession
- Tielemans and Dewsbury-Hall is a strange mixed midfield, no one is a holding man
- Referee missing vital incidents in the game
- Players just thrown in and out of the team with no real pattern of use
Player Ratings: Schmeichel 7, Justin 6, Pereira 5, Fofana 7, Evans 6, Tielemans 5, Dewsbury-Hall 6, Maddison 6, Vardy 5, Barnes 4, Lookman 5, Subs: Amartey 6, Iheanacho 5, Castagne, Perez
- Leicester City, Man of the Match
- Wesley Fofana
Match Stats (H/A):
- Possession: 37 / 63
- Corners: 8 / 7
- Shots on target: 4 / 2
- Fouls: 12 / 13
TCF - FILBERT WAY 
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