OLE GIVES BEGINNING & Mason NOT BR-END! it takes
DAILY STAR SUNDAY, July 26, 2020
BRENDAN RODGERS has reassured Leicester’s fans their club will still attract top talent – regardless of Champions League qualification.
The Foxes will find out if their top-four quest bears fruit this afternoon with the victory that will cement their place in the European football’s elite competition.
Leicester have been a distant second to Liverpool for a large chunk of this campaign but their form since lockdown has seen them slip down the rankings to fifth.
That guarantees a spot in the Europa League – an ambition of Rodgers (above) before the season got under way – and will not diminish the King Power Stadium as a destination for any future imports, according to the club’s manager.
Rodgers said: “Even if there was no European football, Leicester City is a very attractive proposition.
“Forget the Champions League and Europa League for a moment, this is a fantastic club that has ambitions and is moving forward step by step.
“Next season we are moving into a training facility that will be one of the best in world football.
“We are a club that develops players, a club that wants to improve and develop. Of course, we have European football – that will bring us on. We would love to be in that Champions League bracket but we know how hard it is to sustain that.
“We are not in the same market as other teams but we have ambitions and we have to continue to improve and develop.”
Rodgers sees no reason to fear today’s opponents Manchester
United, who have shown they can be devastating with the pace of Mason Greenwood, Marcus
Rashford and Anthony
Martial but the Leicester boss warned that two can play that game.
He said: “It’s not just Manchester United.
“It’s the same for any top team.
“We understand United’s threat but we have a threat as well and it will be something we think about going into this game.”
Today, 4pm, Sky Sports Main Event
OLE GUNNAR SOLSKJAER has challenged Manchester United teenage hot-shot Mason Greenwood to play with “a pair of plums” in today’s Champions League shootout at Leicester.
Strike sensation Greenwood has already scored 18 goals this season – and fellow United strikers Marcus Rashford and Anthony Martial have been in deadly goalscoring form as they chase down a place in next season’s Champions League. And the Old Trafford boss has insisted his young team should use the titanic clash with Brendan Rodgers’ stars as a dress rehearsal for win-or-bust games in the future as they learn to handle cup final-style pressure. Solskjaer has guided in-form United – currently in third place – into the top four after a topsy-turvy season and stands on the brink of his greatest achievement as a manager if they win or draw at the King Power Stadium. If United lose and Chelsea avoid defeat against Wolves, Solskjaer’s men will miss out. But the Norwegian boss is trusting youngsters like Greenwood, 18 – who catapulted United into third place with his midweek equaliser against West Ham – to show no fear.
He said: “Mason has show that already, of course.
“Your temperament and your mental preparation, how you approach the game, is vital.