Media Duties & Olympic Stadium Training For City’s UEL Stars
City’s second Group G tie sees them pitted against an AEK Athens side that will no doubt have a significant desire to claim their first win of their 2020/21 UEFA Europa League campaign following a 3-0 defeat by SC Braga in Portugal last week.
The night before the AEK clash, goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel, who has kept back-to-back clean sheets for the Foxes in wins to nil over Zorya Luhansk and Arsenal, fielded questions about the calibre of the teams in Group G, a return to Europe and the 10-year milestone he is approaching at the Football Club.
His press conference, which also included a video call with those unable to attend, was reminiscent of the ones he gave ahead of City’s UEFA Champions League ties with FC Copenhagen in the group stage and Atlético Madrid in the quarter-finals.
The message from Schmeichel was a clear one. Leicester City, after a four-year absence, want to be competing in European competition.
“It’s where we want to be,” he explained. “It’s been a while since our last European excursion and we’ve definitely missed it. These are the kind of nights we were working towards.
“It’s a shame that there are no fans here, because that would have been the icing on the cake, but we’re really looking forward to it.”
The Copenhagen-born 32-year-old was then interviewed one-on-one by media rights holders before heading out to train alongside fellow shot-stoppers Eldin Jakupović and Danny Ward, and First Team & Goalkeeping Coach Mike Stowell.
Schmeichel’s replacement on the top table, and next to speak to journalists, was manager Brendan Rodgers, who at the age of just 47 has already gathered extensive experience in European competition following his managerial spells at Liverpool and Celtic.
"We were excited to finish in the position that was going to allow us to play in European competition," the manager said.
"We’ve come to a wonderful country, and a great city, and we’re playing against a really good team. It’s our first away game and we want to start with a positive result."
Rodgers concluded his media commitments just in time for City’s final pre-Athens training session at their Olympic Stadium, where they applied the finishing touches to their match preparation.
In less than 24 hours, Leicester City will attempt to make it two wins from two and potentially top Europa League Group G, should they better SC Braga’s result against Zorya later in the evening.
Full coverage of the match at the Athens Olympic Stadium will begin at 4:25pm on LCFC Radio’s Matchday Live ahead of the 5:55pm kick-off in the Greek capital.
All times GMT.
