Brendan Rodgers' blunt Newcastle United admission after Leicester City's Carabao Cup defeat

Newcastle United won 2-0 at St James’s Park last night thanks to goals from Dan Burn and Joelinton to book a place in the competition’s semi-finals for the first time in 47 years.

The defeat following a 3-0 Premier League defeat to United at home on Boxing Day, and Rodgers, unhappy with his team’s defending, was candid in his assessment of the game.

“Listen, I think the best team won, the best team is through,” said Leicester’s manager. “We knew we had to start better than we did a few weeks ago, and the players, to be fair, weathered that storm.

“The two goals, the first goal was soft – we’ve got the ball and give it away cheaply, and then Dan Burn breaks into the box and scores.

“Then we’ve got to really push, we obviously change the structure of the team, and the second one comes from a throw-in, so it was 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, they won the game, so congratulations to Newcastle.”

Speaking to BBC Radio 5 Live, Rodgers added: "We lacked quality in our play. if I'm honest, but the players gave everything.

"We had a few chances in the game, good chances we could have scored from, but if you don't take those opportunities, it’s tough.”