Claudio Ranieri joked that the Champions League music must have woken up Riyad Mahrez, after the Algerian scored twice to inspire Leicester City to an emphatic victory in their first game in the competition.
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The Foxes were instead drawn in Group G alongside Porto, FC Copenhagen and Club Brugge and the Jan Breydel Stadium was the venue where Leicester would embark on their first foray into Europe’s premier club competition in 132 years.
Unable to satisfactorily replace midfield dynamo N’Golo Kante, Leicester have struggled to compete in the centre of the park – a failing that was particularly brutally highlighted in last weekend’s 4-1 deconstruction at the hands of Liverpool.
“I said to the players when you hear the Champions League music it charges the battery and makes you fight”.
Ranieri was under no illusions about how hard the competition would be, saying Leicester would not win the Champions League, but he added that every game would be good for his players.
The simplicity of Leicester’s approach remains the same and if clubs in the Premier League have had a year to analyse and find ways to beat them, Brugge were caught cold by the vicious counter-attack and intense physical commitment which won them the title.
His team may have fulfilled all the stereotypical requirements of a surprise victor defending a title during the open blows of the new Premier League season but they have the Champions League cracked and can already think about the knockout phase.
Mahrez doubled Leicester’s advantage on the half-hour mark with a magnificent free-kick and he added a second from the penalty spot on 60 minutes after Jamie Vardy was brought down by the keeper. “Maybe he is very exhausted of “dilly-ding, dilly-dong” and prefers the Champions League music”, Ranieri said, in reference to his famous catchphrase. We have taken confidence. “No fear, we just played our football and let that do the talking”. The Italian said he was delighted with the performance. I’ve tried to do that here.
“But he took the responsibility and scored”.
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Wary of the hype and and the dangers of being overawed, Ranieri revealed he told his players to use the iconic anthem played before every Champions League game to their advantage. “He was a lucky man!”
