Leicester boss Brendan Rodgers insists his lack of European success is not playing on his mind.
The Foxes are top of Europa League Group G ahead of Thursday’s final game against AEK Athens at the King Power Stadium.
They are locked on 10 points with Braga but above them due to their head-to-head record and will top the group if they better the Portuguese side’s result against Zorya Luhansk.
Rodgers’ best finish in Europe has been reaching the Europa League’s last 32 with Liverpool and Celtic, and he suffered 7-0 and 7-1 Champions League thrashings by Barcelona and Paris St Germain while in charge of the Hoops.
But the Northern Irishman, who won seven trophies with Celtic and promotion to the Premier League with Swansea, is not overly perturbed by a lack of European silverware on his CV.
He said: “My yardstick has always been about influence and how we can influence players’ development. Of course we want to win but it’s not at the forefront of my mind, in terms of worrying about myself and trophies.
“There are some great coaches and managers who never get the chance to do that.
“My challenge here was to try to get Leicester into the top echelons of the league and hopefully that would allow us to play in Europe.
“In our first full season we have been able to do that. It’s always easy to do things once so can you do it the second time? That is what’s in the forefront of my mind.
“Over the course of your career everyone would love to do that (succeed in Europe) as a coach. I’m just loving my job here, loving my work here and our ambition in every competition is to be the best we can.”
Rodgers remains without Caglar Soyuncu (groin), Timothy Castagne (hamstring) and Ricardo Pereira (groin).
Leicester retuned to Europe this year having reached the Champions League quarter-finals in 2017.
Marc Albrighton scored the Foxes’ first ever Champions League goal in 2016 when he netted in a 3-0 win at Club Brugge.
He also struck in a 2-0 last-16 win against Sevilla which put Leicester through to the last eight – where they lost to Atletico Madrid – 3-2 on aggregate.
They are memorable moments that have gone down in the club’s history and the winger believes the squad can create more.
He said: “I do think the Europa League is going to be special this year. We are looking to do really well in it and go as far as we can. That will create special moments in games.
“It probably takes the gloss off it with the fans not being there and wouldn’t look as good but we are just as determined as we would be in the Champions League with a full stadium.
“We have a platform to create something special and put ourselves further in Leicester folklore.”
