Claudio Ranieri believes Leicester City was inspired by the Champions League music after easing to victory against Club Brugge.
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As first experiences of the Champions League go, Leicester City are probably entitled to wonder whether it is always this straightforward.
As a result, they have put themselves in a position of strength as they try to add to the statistic that tells us, since 2002, only nine out of the 46 teams playing in the Champions League for the first time have qualified for the knockout rounds.
“No fear, we just played our football and let that do the talking”. We played our style’. They tried to find a right solution but it was very hard. Tough at the back, penetrative in attack – this was more in keeping with the story of the English champions, as opposed to the slightly dishevelled performances that have marked out the start of their title defence.
Albrighton fired in after Brugge made a mess of dealing with Luis Hernandez’s long throw and Mahrez scored a delightful free-kick after 29 minutes.
Jamie Vardy is brought down by Ludovic Butelle, leading to a second-half penalty for the visitors.
After the worst start to the season imaginable and a great deal of head-wagging from pundits who predicted a bad second album from Ranieiri’s band of brothers without the man who set the rhythm, N’Golo Kante, Ranieri set out on an another adventure in Brugge and this one could match last season’s for the sheer improbability of it all.
‘If he doesn’t score I take the neck and I crush, ‘ Ranieri said, laughing. “He took the responsibility”.
The Italian manager also admitted that he had wanted debutant club record signing Islam Slimani to take the penalty that Mahrez converted.
“Maybe the music woke him up. Maybe he was very, very exhausted of listening to dilly ding, dilly dong, maybe he preferred the Champions League music”, said Ranieri, reverting to a classic catchphrase. “He was very good”.
“The match could have changed face if they scored at the beginning, but they lost the chance and our first chance we scored a goal”. Against Brugge there was a team who wanted to react after the bad defeat and it was hard for everyone.
Ranieri, embarking on his sixth Champions League campaign with his sixth different club, could sniff the danger and he was out in the technical area, urging his players to focus their minds. It’s not easy but it’s okay.
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The hosts should have been in front inside three minutes, but rapid Colombian winger Jose Izquierdo dragged his shot wide after a Hans Vanaken pass sent him clean through on goal, and Leicester made them pay by seizing the lead just two minutes later. The way they go about their business, I don’t think there are too many teams out there who Leicester won’t fancy their chances of giving a game, and I really believe that. “We have to perform better defensively and offensively if we want to win that kind of game”.
