Leicester 2-0 AEK Athens: Cengiz Under scores his first Foxes goal
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Leicester City won four of their six games in Group G and finished with 13 points out of 18
Brendan Rodgers says he "couldn't ask for any more" after Leicester sealed top spot in their Europa League group with victory over AEK Athens.
Cengiz Under and Harvey Barnes scored in a game they needed to win to finish above nearest rivals Sporting Braga.
Fourth in the Premier League table, three points behind leaders Tottenham, Leicester can now look forward to the knockout stage of the Europa League.
"We had to show the mentality and attitude in the game," said Rodgers.
Progress adds to feel-good factor
Leicester have overcome a number of injury setbacks to make steady progress in 2020-21, with the Europa League giving Rodgers the opportunity to hand some of his younger players a chance to gain valuable European experience.
"I couldn't ask for any more," added Foxes boss Rodgers.
"If you said at the start of the season we would be top of the group and fourth in the Premier League with all the injuries we've had I would have been pretty pleased."
Leicester will be seeded in Monday's Europa League last-32 draw after sealing top spot in Group G.
They finished on 13 points, the same number as Braga, but claimed top spot thanks a superior head-to-head record over their Portuguese rivals.
Two-time European champions Benfica and Real Sociedad, who sit second in La Liga, are among the unseeded teams Rodgers' side could face in February.
Harvey Barnes has scored six goals in all competitions for Leicester City this season, including three in his past four appearances
Having won just one of their previous five group games, AEK Athens were playing for pride.
But the visitors failed to recover after falling 2-0 down in 14 minutes.
Turkey winger Under's finish was exquisite, the on-loan player from Roma punishing Stratos Svarnas' mistake by volleying past the keeper.
Two minutes later it was 2-0, England international Barnes cutting into the penalty area before his shot took a heavy deflection off Ionut Nedelcearu.
Luke Thomas followed his goal at Sporting Braga last month with an assist for Barnes, while France Under-21 defender Wesley Fofana, also 19 and one of the finds of the season, finished the game with a 93% passing accuracy rate.
AEK Athens offered very little threat and keeper Danny Ward was not required to make a serious save.
In a dominant performance, Leicester carved out 16 chances, six of which were on target.
Barnes' impressive Europa League record - the stats
Harvey Barnes has scored in three of his four starts in the Europa League.
AEK Athens have lost 11 of their last 12 matches in the Europa League/Champions League, having gone nine unbeaten before this run.
After no clean sheets in their first four home games of 2020-21, Leicester have recorded a shutout in four of their last five at the King Power in all competitions.
Cengiz Under has been directly involved in six goals in his last 10 European starts for Leicester City and Roma (4 goals, 2 assists).
What's next?
Leicester are back in Premier League action on Sunday when Brighton are the visitors to the King Power Stadium (19:15 GMT).
