Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers reveals there is a COVID-19 outbreak within the team and seven players missing for the Europa League showdown with Napoli.
The group is incredibly tight going into tomorrow’s final games, as any of the four teams could still go through or be eliminated entirely.
Leicester are currently the leaders, but they visit the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona missing several players.
“There are some players and staff who are not here. We have had some positive cases and some people who are not well,” said Rodgers in his press conference.
“Youri Tielemans has trained very well and he will be available. Ryan has been out for a week or so and he will be available for the game. We have seven players missing, three staff.
“As for who, that’s something that you will see in time. It’s been the last few days really. You’re starting to see a few more cases. It’s about the health of our players and we have to respect the travel, coming into Italy. We still have a strong squad here. It’s just not a fully-fit squad.
“We tested before we boarded the flight and before we left the hotel. We’ve taken every measure to be as safe as possible. We have taken every measure. Even the players who are unwell, we couldn’t take any risk with those, as well as the guys who have COVID.”
According to Tuttomercatoweb, the seven players who haven’t made the trip are Lookman, Amartey, Iheanacho, Vestergaard, Perez, Benkovic and Daley-Campbell.
“It’s one we’re very comfortable on, knowing we have it on own hands. If we win, we top the group, if we don’t lose, we qualify. The key is to be positive in our mindset and try to win the game,” continued Rodgers.
“Napoli are an excellent team but we played really well against them at home. The game at the weekend, it showed we’re not too far away if we get rid of the mistakes. The team has a confidence there.”
Napoli have lost their way of late in both Serie A and the Europa League, as injuries piled up on Luciano Spalletti.
“It was a tough group, you can see that by the scorelines. Napoli have big-game experience. I really like the manager and he has experience himself. He’s done an excellent job. We understand the challenge we have. We need to be at our best level to get the result we want here.”