They played their first game against Club Brugge in the group stage and won the game easily by 0-3 away from home.
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Riyad Mahrez scored two in Leicester City’s Champions League win over Club Brugge, and Claudio Ranieri says the tournament has inspired him.
But it was the flawless performance from the Foxes, 50-1 to win the competition after last season’s shock Premier League victory, although things could have been so different if the hosts had taken a glorious opportunity after two minutes.
“It was an important win for us”, said Ranieri. We hope to go through the group and play again, but for us also it is important if we don’t achieve the first two positions, to go into the Europa League. They won five of six unbeaten matches against bottom-six clubs last term, with the margin of victory just one goal on four occasions. “We played a little better after conceding and we finally did it”. I’m very impressed with them this season.
The visitors doubled their lead through Riyad Mahrez’s stunning free-kick just before the half-hour mark, the Foxes’ playmaker making it 3-0 with a second-half spot kick after Jamie Vardy had been brought down by home goalkeeper Ludovic Butelle. Ranieri said. “He took the responsibility”.
‘I make now every time a big mistake.
Diaby clipped the post as powderpuff Brugge tried to find a way back but Leicester even had the luxury of giving Vardy, Mahrez and Slimani a rest as Ahmed Musa, Leonardo Ulloa and Demarai Gray replaced them. “He was a lucky man!”
“The Champions League music woke him up”, Ranieri said. Maybe he is very exhausted of listening to dilly-ding, dilly-dong and prefers the Champions League music! “Maybe at the beginning we surprised them”. Against Brugge there was a team who wanted to react after the bad defeat and it was hard for everyone.
“You are in trouble after that because we’re playing against a very good team”. It’s not easy but it’s okay. We scored very early and that gave us more confidence during all the match.
It feels like only yesterday Chris Wood nailed a thunderous 25-footer at Turf Moor to all but secure the Championship title for Leicester, but Burnley are back in the Premier League after a one-year hiatus and have already beat the likes of Liverpool this season – something Leicester could not.
The PFA Player of the Year conjured 17 goals and 11 assists in league last season and was closely pursued by Arsenal this summer and, reportedly, Barcelona.
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The home team found some better rhythm as the second half wore on and created a few more chances, but Leicester were able to comfortably clinch victory in the end.
