Tielemans sends message to Leicester team-mates after apology for FA Cup loss

Youri Tielemans has urged Leicester's out of form stars to "look in the mirror" after the FA Cup holders crashed out.

Tielemans struck a spectacular Wembley winner last term against Chelsea as Leicester won the FA Cup for the first time ever.

But they suffered a spectacular fall from grace at local Championship rivals Nottingham Forest in a 4-1 loss.

The Premier League visitors trailed 3-0 in the first half after an embarrassing display which left boss Brendan Rodgers fuming.

The disastrous afternoon even saw an away fan arrested for invading the pitch and hitting Forest striker Keinan Davis.

It is a nightmare for the Foxes, who are in 10th top-flight after just two wins in seven games ahead of Thursday's trip to Liverpool.

Belgium midfielder Tielemans,24, said: "We need to digest this, look at ourselves in the mirror and then we'll see.

"We know it's a big game for Leicester and Nottingham.

"The crowd gets fired up but the only thing I can say about the fans is that we need to apologise to ours.

"They've been behind us, they are behind us, but we weren't good enough on the pitch and we didn't represent them well.

"Hopefully we can do that in the next game, but it's very disappointing.

"Last season's done, we won it and now we tried to go as far as we could, but this was it unfortunately.

"We weren't at our best, we weren't good enough.

"It's always an honour to represent this club, this team, and I was really proud of this, but unfortunately it was a night to forget."

Leicester have vowed to ban the troublemaker for life who invaded the pitch and the FA are investigating.

But boss Rodgers still has big problems on the field after the shock surrender which left him questioning his stars' hunger.

Rodgers said the display left him "embarrassed" for the first time since taking over as Leicester boss in February 2019.

His side only had two shots on target all match and conceded three times in a nine-minute spell after goals from Philip Zinckernagel, Brennan Johnson and captain Joe Worrall.

A goalkeeping error from Brice Samba gifted Leicester a goal back through Kelechi Iheanacho before the break but the hosts' three-goal cushion was restored when Djed Spence grabbed Forest's fourth.

Tielemans added: "It's disappointing, it's the only thing I can say.

"As a team, we weren't good enough.

"They were the better team, I think there's nothing much to say.

"I think we conceded early goals, three in a row, and we tried to come back into the game, but it just didn't happen.

"At half-time, we said we need to get out quickly and try to get the next goal, and that didn't happen - they scored."