Leicester 2 Brentford 1: Bees still not fully out of Premier League drop danger as Maddison wondergoal gives Rodgers win
LEICESTER CITY snapped Brentford’s two-game winning streak thanks to two stunners from Timothy Castagne and James Maddison.
Brendan Rodgers’ Foxes followed reaching the last-eight of the Europa Conference League with a valuable 2-1 home win over the Bees.
Brentford were without January addition Christian Eriksen due to Covid – hampering his chances of linking up with the Denmark squad next week.
But it was Belgian international Castagne who broke the deadlock on 20 minutes in stunning style.
In his first game back since December the right-back arrowed an effort into the back of the net from the edge of the area past a helpless David Raya.
Castagne’s goal was good, but Maddison’s strike to double Leicester’s lead 13 minutes later was even better.
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The playmaker curled an inch-perfect free-kick into the top corner from 25 yards to send the home fans wild.
Yoane Wissa scored a peach of his own for Brentford on 86 minutes, but by that point it was too little too late for the west Londoners.
Kasper Schmeichel was forced to scramble down to his right to keep out a deflected Wissa strike just moments after the restart – which would have completed a remarkable turnaround.
But apart from that brief moment of panic Rodgers’ side comfortably saw out the victory.
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Bryan Mbeumo and skipper Pontus Jansson were both guilty of missing chances for the visitors, while Harvey Barnes went close for the Foxes and Maddison threatened throughout.
Kelechi Iheanacho nearly made it three soon after the restart but the hosts came up short in their search for a third.
And at 2-0 there was always the risk of one goal changing the mood inside the King Power – which it threatened to do after Wissa found the net.
But in the end the two first half strikes were enough for Leicester, who make it four home wins on the bounce in all competitions.
Rodgers will be especially delighted with the win after the tough European trip to Rennes in midweek, which saw Leicester narrowly progress to the last-eight 3-2 on aggregate following a 2-1 defeat on the night.