Brendan Rodgers’ classy message to Newcastle United after ‘deserved’ Carabao Cup progression

Leicester City boss Brendan Rodgers has congratulated Newcastle United on reaching their first semi-final in 18 years.

Rodgers admitted that “the best team won” after the Magpies beat his side 2-0 in the Carabao Cup courtesy of second half goals from Dan Burn and Joelinton at St James’ Park.

“We knew we had to start better than we did a few weeks ago and we felt the players weathered that storm and created some half-chances in the first half,” the 49-year-old said.

“I think the first goal was soft, we gave the ball away cheaply and then Dan Burn breaks into the box and scores.

“We had to really push and we changed the structure, and the second goal comes from a throw-in so really disappointing.

“Vards [Jamie Vardy] has a chance to make it 2-1 which makes it interesting but overall the team that played with the most quality and took their chances won the game, so congratulations to Newcastle.”

Leicester were without at least six first-team starters in James Maddison, James Justin, Ricardo Pereira, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Dennis Praet and Boubakary Soumare.

Newcastle, meanwhile, reverted back to a full-strength starting XI after making eight chances for the third round FA Cup defeat at Sheffield Wednesday on Saturday night.

“They’ve got more quality,” said Rodgers. “They played with more quality than us.

“We needed too many touches. We lost the ball too easily and were careless in our passing. We weren’t passing it well enough. The first proper passes in the game I think was when Papy Mendy came on.

“Apart from that, we didn’t pass the ball quick enough and like I say, they did. They passed it with more quality.”

United will compete in a two-legged semi-final for a place at Wembley. The draw will be made live on Sky Sports following the conclusion of Southampton v Manchester City tonight.

Rodgers added: “Newcastle have great got momentum. You always feel it’s a great occasion when you come here but especially now, they’ve got a real strong mentality in the team. They work very hard and they’ve got quality, and good physicality.

“For any team coming here, it’s clearly going to be difficult.”