Rodgers: One Game From Creating History
- Brendan Rodgers speaks to LCFC TV after Leicester City beat Southampton 1-0 at Wembley Stadium
- City advanced to the Emirates FA Cup Final thanks to Kelechi Iheanacho’s winner
- Rodgers expressed his delight for the Club’s players and fans at full-time
His Foxes side emerged as 1-0 victors in the semi-final on Sunday, beating Southampton to advance to the final for the first time in over five decades.
It is one of many records that Rodgers has broken during his time as Leicester manager, and he now has the opportunity to guide the Foxes to their first ever FA Cup triumph.
“I’m absolutely delighted, I’m delighted for everyone at the Club,” he said. “Firstly, for the players. They put so much in. We showed that we learned our lessons from last year’s semi-final (League Cup loss to Aston Villa).
“I’m thrilled for the Club, the board and our ownership who I know have put so much into the Club, so to arrive in the final is special.
“And of course, to the supporters, because I’ve been made fully aware how important this trophy is and how much they would love to win it.
“I’ve always tried to respect that we should always put out a team that could challenge to get to a final. We now arrive and we’re one game from creating history.”
Analysing the game in more detail, Rodgers felt City were better creators on the evening and deserved to win the last-four showdown in London.
He said: “I felt that we’d have to defend well in order to get through because they throw everything at the game, Southampton. They put a lot of risk into the game.
“There’s lots of bodies forward, but we didn’t concede a shot on target, so that shows that the team defended well.
"I felt then, in the second half, once we started moving the ball a little bit quicker, the space opened up and then we obviously got the opportunity to score.
“Once the first goal went in, then our confidence increased even more and I felt we could have added to our lead.”
Discussing the form of goalscorer Kelechi Iheanacho, Rodgers spoke of the Nigeria striker’s increasing confidence after he netted his 10th goal in the space of just seven games in all competitions.
“He’ll play better in the game,” Rodgers said. “His touch got away from him too many times. Maybe before that would have happened, it would have affected his confidence, but now, he’s at a level where he allows to let those mistakes go.
“Now, he can just get on his game, and what he’s shown is that outside the box and inside the box, he’s there to score goals. Him and Jamie [Vardy], the combination, was a real, real threat. They were both exceptional for us.”