TIM TIPS RUN FOR FOXES
LEICESTER return to Europe tonight after 16 years and, while they are guaranteed a longer stay this time, they will seek to make a deeper impression. Red star Belgrade visited Filbert street on september 14, 2000 in the first round of the UEFA Cup and within 30 seconds the hosts were behind. Milenko Acimovic struck a ferocious 40-yard shot through the fog of the travelling fans’ flares and into the back of goalkeeper Tim Flowers’s net. Gerry Taggart equalised but the Yugoslavs won the second leg 3-1. Flowers remembers how a Leicester side featuring Muzzy Izzet, Neil Lennon and steve Guppy were undone by their opponents’ technical superiority and European nous. ‘We drew Crvena Zvezda and did not know who we were supposed to be playing,’ Flowers, now goalkeeping coach at Fulham, told Sportsmail. ‘Then we realised it was Red star Belgrade. Their fans had flares at Filbert street and when both teams came out they let some off. ‘I got done early by a shot from distance, it dipped over the top of me, and people said I maybe couldn’t see the ball because of the smoke. But I have to admit I did see it. ‘They were a very good, technical team. European football is different and as a club you need to be in it for seasons to get used to it. That is sometimes why clubs who win the league or the cup out of the blue, then play a European campaign, can find it difficult. ‘Their players knew how to operate the two-leg system. At ours after going one up they sat back and played on the counter, but in Vienna they were more proactive. They kept the ball well, whereas in England at that time we were used to facing a direct approach.’ Leicester have previously only taken part in two other European campaigns, going out in the first round of the 1997-98 UEFA Cup to Atletico Madrid and to the same opposition in the same round of the 1961-62 Cup-Winners’ Cup. Flowers, who finished bottom of the Champions League group stage with Blackburn after their own unlikely Premier League title success, believes Leicester, up against Bruges, Porto and Copenhagen, are wellequipped to fare better now. ‘It is brilliant for Leicester, they have some really mouth-watering ties to come,’ he said. ‘I think their approach will be quite well suited to European football, especially away from home. They can sit deep and deny space and Jamie Vardy’s pace up top will be a massive threat.’
Martin Samuel on Leicester in Europe — See pages 76-77