600 Leicester fans had to miss the first 20 minutes of the Europa League clash at Napoli with the police to blame for it too.
The Premier League club’s supporters flew out to Italy ready for the European fixture, however police bizarrely escorted their coaches in the wrong direction.
Their night was made more miserable as the Foxes not only lost 3-2 by their Group C rivals, but crashed out of the Europa League and were sent to compete in the Europa Conference League.
This is an absolute farce. There are buses of Leicester fans not going to get to the game in time. The shuttle buses didn’t leave with enough time to get to the ground and they are going the wrong way. Genuine disbelief here #lcfc pic.twitter.com/TQjVyRHXSu
— Jake Watson 🎙 (@JakeWatson_TV) December 9, 2021
Away supporters took to social media to complain about delays to shuttle buses to the Maradona Stadium with up to 600 of them understood to have made it into the stadium late after their coaches took a wrong turn, meaning Leicester had to kick off without a travelling support backing them.
@Sam_Lambert7 wrote on Twitter: “2 hours on a bus to the ground and still over an hour away. Only bonus is it’ll mean I miss us going 2-0 down after 10.”
They turned up to the game, to find out Leicester had already endured a woeful start, going 1-0 down after just four minutes thanks to a strike from Adam Ounas.
2 hours on a bus to the ground and still over an hour away. Only bonus is it’ll mean I miss us going 2-0 down after 10. The Leicester #lcfc
— Sam Lambert (@Sam_Lambert7) December 9, 2021
3 hours on a bus to be 2-0 down after 20 minutes again.
To make matters worse, I’ve just checked in for my return flight tomorrow and ended up in the middle seat. #shambles— Sam Lambert (@Sam_Lambert7) December 9, 2021
Brendan Rodgers’ side then went 2-0 down, with Elif Elmas adding a second on 24 minutes before the away end started getting busier and Leicester burst into life and staged a determined fightback before the break.
Jonny Evans made it 2-1 just three minutes after Elmas scored, before academy product Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall added a superb second to get the visitors level on the 33rd minute.
Leicester hopes however were dashed not long after the break as Elmas made it 3-2 to Napoli, with Leicester messing up a whole host of chances to equalise.
In a match in which they only needed a draw, Leicester were sent packing down to UEFA’s third-tier competition, something Rodgers didn’t seem to have a clue of.
Asked if winning the Europa Conference League was now the priority, Rodgers told BT Sport: “I’ve got to be honest, I don’t even know what the competition is.
“In all fairness, I was focused on the Europa League and winning this group, or at the very least finishing second, so with all due respect to the competition, I’m not sure what it is. But I’m sure I will find out soon enough.”
On the performance, Rodgers said: “I think there’s loads of naivety in our team, a lot of young players, and obviously there has been a bigger demand for them this season.
“We’ve played a number of systems and shapes and individually it comes down to being able to have that mentality to track a runner or go with a runner or stop a cross.
“But it is my responsibility to find that solution. Tonight I felt we were good offensively but it’s nowhere near good enough.
“I said to the players ‘if we can just tighten up the gaps and do the other side of the game – do more to blocks shots and be more aggressive’.
“We’ve got to do more.
“For the third goal, you have got to track the runner and if you do then you stop the cross. It is the basics of the game that we aren’t doing so well.
“I’m delighted for Kiernan because he has come into the team and done very, very well. For the likes of him, it is a new experience and playing against a really good side.
“But we have given away really cheap goals.
“We had big chances as well – the chance for James (Maddison) straight after their third goal is a huge chance and we’re also disappointed with other opportunities, but ultimately we didn’t defend well enough.”
Player ratings
Napoli: Meret (6), Di Lorenzo (6), Rrahmani (6), Juan Jesus (7), Mario Rui (6), Demme (6), Zielinski (7), Ounas (7), Lozano (5), Elmas (8), Petagna (7).
Subs: Malcuit (6), Mertens (6), Manolas (n/a).
Leicester: Schmeichel (7), Castagne (7), Evans (6), Soyuncu (6), Bertrand (6), Ndidi (6), Tielemans (6), Dewsbury-Hall (7), Maddison (7), Barnes (6), Vardy (6).
Subs: Albrighton (n/a), Daka (6), Soumare (n/a).
Man of the match: Eljif Elmas.
Twitter users reacted with 600 Leicester fans forced to miss the first 20 minutes of their Europa League clash at Napoli due to the police’s mistakes…
Here but now police check points pic.twitter.com/GJa1w5btyC
— Jake Watson 🎙 (@JakeWatson_TV) December 9, 2021
The route to the ground. No wonder we missed half the fame. Disgusting pic.twitter.com/GAt5MRRJMY
— alex bexon (@acbex) December 10, 2021
@philiproose1: & watch yourselves if they drop you off after the match where they picked you up that’s were a few get ambushed keep safe
@Karterscafe: Agreed mate, shambles and basically two fingers to our loyal supporters who have risked so much to travel and support the club we love 🤬
@BradHicks20: Sounds deliberate to me!
@MattyHodgson11: Done that with us two years on the bounce, took us on the ring road for two hours. Always treated like shit over there
@hursty16: Organized chaos, feel for everyone out there. Hope it gets sorted and quickly 🦊👍
@philiproose1: Been there 3 times with Liverpool they do the same thing every time last time we booked into hotel right next to our end & spent the day there….
@Dchambo: It took us 3 hours to get there today because the convoy went the wrong way. It should have taken 30 minutes max
@StevenCarter89: “You’re going the wrong bloody way!”
@J_To_Thee_K: Sure they just do it for a laugh 😔
@Setantayseis: I got a taxi last time I went there rather than the shuttle bus, only took 20 mins from the port
@PatrickNagle10: They did the same with Swansea a couple of years ago
@Kop202: Sorry mate, it’s a shambles, have been to Napoli a few times, didn’t even bother going the last time Liverpool played there. Has been going on for years, UEFA doing nothing.
@Colonel147: We’re told all supporters must use coaches, basically for own protection. Then quite happy to drop us all back off after at same point and merrily send us on our way. That was a keep your wits about you walk back to hotel
@NiallMac1990: They purposely do it to every team that goes there. Its to get you off the streets.
@swansea_gav: They’ve been doing for years and fuck all gets done about them. UEFA turn a blind eye but they do it to every British side. It’s a deliberate tactic from them.
@DavidGLeedham: Absolute disgrace the way that fans are treated in this country.
@Gunbyzono: Classic Napoli policing.
@BenScholeyLFC: They’ve done this on purpose btw, treat us like shite there too
@LaurenceNew: Honestly no English fan should ever want to go to that dump again, wild what they get away with as well
@JoBeanCash_: Exactly why I decided to stay at home. The policing in Warsaw was a disgrace and similar tactics by the Italians. Taking 4 hours to and from games saps any enjoyment from your day.
@guilforda: Feel for the @LCFC fans who battled the covid restrictions to get to Italy only to miss the game because the police have escorted them away from the ground

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