By Alex Bysouth.
Ricardo Pereira scored a late winner as Leicester City produced a superb comeback to beat PSV Eindhoven in the Europa Conference League and reach the club’s first European semi-final.
After a goalless first leg at King Power Stadium, Eran Zahavi pounced on a mistake by Youri Tielemans to open the scoring but James Maddison levelled with 13 minutes remaining.
The Foxes midfielder slotted into the top corner from Ayoze Perez’s clever cutback before Pereira fired the winner in the 88th minute to seal a memorable win.
They will face the winners of Roma versus Bodo/Glimt, who lead 2-1 following the first leg.
Foxes boss Brendan Rodgers had urged his side to make history and reach the club’s first European semi-final, but for 77 minutes it looked like they would pass up the opportunity against a PSV outfit who were more adventurous than in the first leg.
It has been an underwhelming season for Rodgers but his changes at Philips Stadion inspired a stirring comeback.
Half-time replacement Patson Daka had already slotted a glorious chance wide before fellow substitute Perez picked out Maddison and the midfielder lashed home.
Then, with two minutes to go, substitute Ademola Lookman found Daka and the forward’s effort was palmed into the path of right-back Pereira, who made no mistake.
It has been a decade of firsts for the Foxes, who won their maiden FA Cup last season and claimed a first top-flight title in 2015-16, and hopes of adding to that with a European trophy remain alive, albeit in the third-tier competition.
Winning this competition might also be Leicester’s best chance of qualifying for Europe next term, sitting ninth in the Premier League and 11 points adrift of a Europa Conference League spot, but for a long time it looked like it would be the home side heading through.
Leicester were served a warning when Kasper Schmeichel tipped Mario Gotze’s well-taken volley over the crossbar but had glorious chances of their own, with Harvey Barnes breaking free and slotting wide despite having Maddison in support.
They were eventually punished when Tielemans gave the ball away outside his own box and Mario Gotze slipped a pass into Eran Zahavi, who finished from a narrow angle in the 27th minute.
That turned the tie into a huge task for Leicester, with PSV arriving on a 15-match unbeaten run and having kept five clean sheets in their past six games under highly-rated boss Roger Schmidt, who will leave at the end of the season.
? KICK-OFF ?
Tell us who will be in the semi-finals ?#UECL
— UEFA Europa Conference League (@europacnfleague) April 14, 2022
But it was a challenge Rodgers’ side were up to and those late goals showed that the Foxes just might have fight to go all the way in Europe.