Brendan Rodgers gives coy answer over Jamie Vardy as Roma fixture looms

Brendan Rodgers remains coy over the possibility of Jamie Vardy starting against Roma after the Leicester City striker made his comeback against Aston Villa.

Rodgers brought Vardy on the final 20 minutes of a bore draw at the King Power Stadium, City’s first goalless stalemate in the Premier League this season. His introduction gave an immediate lift to the crowd, but it did not see City fashion any late opportunities.

Vardy was making just his third appearance this calendar year, a knee injury keeping him out for the past month, and he has not played in any of the Europa Conference League fixtures up to now. Rodgers would not declare if he was ready to start in the semi-final on Thursday, urging caution over the 35-year-old.

“He brings an extra dimension to the game,” Rodgers said in his post-match press conference. “He hasn’t trained a great deal but he came in and I spoke to him about getting 20 minutes. It was good to get him out onto the field again.

“We’ll see (if he can start against Roma). I’ll have a chat with him and see how he is, and see how his recovery is. We have to be careful with him as well. He’s been out for a long period and we don’t want to rush it if we don’t need to. We’ll see how he is.”

City did not muster many chances while Vardy wasn’t on the pitch either in what was another game where they failed to turn their possession into chances. Rodgers was pleased with what he saw though, especially considering the energy levels of each side.

He said: “I was pleased for the players because if you think, since the last time Aston Villa played we’ve played four games. The energy of the players, they gave everything in the game.

“We started the game very well, got into some great areas of the field.