- Leicester City reached the quarter-finals of the UEFA Europa Conference League on Thursday
- Youri Tielemans discussed his pride when speaking to LCFC TV after full-time
- He was delighted to share the occasion with a large following from the Blue Army
- The Belgian also credited Wesley Fofana for his crucial impact in the tie
Despite holding a two-goal advantage from the first leg, the Foxes were under no illusions about the scale of the challenge which awaited them in Brittany. That task got tougher after Benjamin Bourigeaud netted for the home side, but Leicester continued to work hard at a raucous Roazhon Park.
In the second half, Wesley Fofana marked his long-awaited return from injury with his first goal for the Club and, although Flavien Tait struck again for Rennes, it was the visitors who progressed courtesy of a 3-2 aggregate win. They have been drawn against PSV Eindhoven in the last eight.
Speaking at full-time in Rennes, Tielemans told LCFC TV: "We're not pleased because we lost, but we are pleased because we're through. That was the main goal today, just to go through.
"We knew it was going to be a great atmosphere here. Their fans were going to push them, so it was down to us to try and get the job done and to stay strong like we did in the end. We fought for each other and that's what we needed.
"It was really difficult. We knew they were going to come after us so it was down to us to manage the game and I think we can be much better with the ball. We know that, when we have good spells with the ball, we can hurt them and, in some parts of the game, we did that.
"Unfortunately it was not enough to get the win [on the night], but enough to grab the qualification."
Tielemans was thrilled to see Fofana not only score on his return for the Foxes, but also play such a pivotal role in a gutsy Leicester City performance.
"He was brilliant," City's No.8 added. "After so many months out, just coming in and being the boss of the defence, he was so good tonight. He's just so strong. Him and Daniel [Amartey], the centre-halves, were really good and then Jannik [Vestergaard] was really good when he came on, blocking shots.
"It was what we needed as a team, fighting together."
Toasting the triumph with 1,100 supporters who traveled to France was a special moment for Tielemans and the Belgium international savoured the occasion.
"That felt so good, honestly," he explained. "It feels already a long time since we didn't have them behind us (due to COVID-19 restrictions). This pandemic has been very tough for all of us and playing without fans is not the same at all. That's not football, for me. With the fans, it's just amazing.
"We don't want to get carried away. We have to recover well and we have a very important Premier League game (vs. Brentford) now coming up on Sunday, so we'll have to prepare for that."