Preparations Complete For Leicester & PSV On Eve Of Last-Eight Tie
One time winners of both the European Cup and UEFA Cup, while also lifting 24 Dutch titles, PSV are known the world over. Philips Sport Vereniging, originally called Philips Elftal at the club's inception in 1913, have also won a total of 45 domestic trophies back in their homeland.
Some of the names associated with the Eindhoven club include Brazilians Ronaldo and Romário, Dutch greats Ruud Gullit and Ronald Koeman, and Premier League icons Ruud van Nistelrooy and Jaap Stam. The likes of Mario Götze and Marco van Ginkel continue that tradition into the 2021/22 campaign.
It promises to be an enthralling tie on Filbert Way and a stern test of Leicester's credentials as the Club strives to add a maiden piece of European silverware into their ever-growing honours list. It's City's reward for overcoming Randers and Rennes across their two knockout ties so far this term.
PSV, on the other hand, have contested 16 fixtures in Europe already since July. A journey which began in the UEFA Champions League qualification phase, then a third-placed finish in the UEFA Europa League's group stage, has seen them since defeat Maccabi Tel Aviv and Copenhagen in the UECL.
Managed by Roger Schmidt, Rood-witten currently occupy second place in the Eredivisie, lying in wait, four points adrift, for a slip up from leaders Ajax. PSV's pedigree on the continent will have been on Leicester manager Brendan Rodgers' mind when he oversaw training in Seagrave on Wednesday morning.
With a squad swelled by the recent returns of James Justin, Wesley Fofana, Jonny Evans and Timothy Castagne – City's back-four for last Saturday's 1-1 draw at Manchester United – there is hope among the Foxes camp that the season can end on a positive note over the coming months.
That latter of that quartet – Belgium international full-back Castagne – was on media duties first at LCFC Training Ground. After taking his seat inside a well populated media suite at the King Power Centre, the former Atalanta defender outlined his ambitions for Thursday's cup tie.
"These teams from the Netherlands, they always play good football," he explained. "They try to press and play hard. They sometimes have some problems on the defensive side, so maybe we can take advantage of that, but we'll see. We want to show the intensity that we can bring.
"We'll try to do that and we'll see if they can manage that."
Shortly afterwards, in between other media commitments, the manager was next up on the top table. The former Liverpool and Celtic manager has no doubts that Leicester will have to perform at their maximum to emerge past the Dutch outfit and tee up a last-four tie against either Bodø/Glimt or Roma.
Never before have City reached the semi-finals of a European competition – after narrowly losing out to Atlético Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Champions League five years ago.
"They've obviously done very, very well in their league," Rodgers said on PSV. "They're in the cup final as well. Offensively, they're very good going forward, they score a lot of goals. They've got dangerous players but they concede goals. Roger is an experienced coach who's done an excellent job.
"Of course, they will be a very tough opponent for us. They've got some very talented young players, but like most teams from the Netherlands, they'll play very good football and they'll have a style. They want to be creative."
Later, over on Filbert Way as the sun set, former RB Salzburg and Bayer Leverkusen manager Schmidt addressed the travelling party of Dutch journalists at the home of Leicester City. The experienced 55-year-old was full of admiration for the Foxes ahead of tackling the 2021 FA Cup winners.
"It's a Premier League team, it's not an average team, it's a top team," Schmidt said. "They've had some injuries and are not at their top level in terms of their position in the league, but they are a top team. They won a trophy last season so it is a tough game. We have to make the difference by our team tactics.
"We have a very good mentality and we need the total package tomorrow. We need a good connection between the players. We will get our chances, we always get them, because we also are a very good team with quality. It is a big challenge for us."
The PSV squad then headed out onto the turf at Leicester City Stadium to get their first taste of the ground which will stage the next chapter of their European exploits. It's a tie which offers plenty of intrigue – but it's the Foxes who will have the backing of the Blue Army on Thursday night.