Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri believes Riyad Mahrez’s two goals in the Champions League win over Club Brugge proves the Algerian has rediscovered his form.
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The Leicester City pair were at their best in the Foxes’ Champions League debut which resulted in a 3-0 win over Club Brugge in Belgium.
The Premier League champions needed just five minutes to score their first goal in the competition, Marc Albrighton knocking the ball into an unguarded net thanks to Hans Vanaken’s unfortunate assist.
Ranieri was delighted with the victory and he felt it was the flawless response to the 4-1 defeat at Liverpool at the weekend. “I said we can not think about the Champions League, it’s an experience for us and we hope to go through the group and play again”.
“If teams look at us and maybe think we’re a weaker team than what they could have got I don’t think that’ll be wise”.
Mahrez had missed three of his last four penalties but when he drilled home after an hour, following a superb free-kick – which has been won by Vardy – Leicester were home and hosed. Ranieri said. “He took the responsibility”.
Ranieri has demanded his players refocus on the league after their continental commitments, indicating he will ring a bell from the sidelines if he feels they are not performing.
“The Champions League music woke him up”, Ranieri said.
“We’re just too good for you”, was the chant from the away supporters, before Izquierdo struck the post as the Belgian champions pushed for a consolation goal.
Burnley will give the Foxes a sterner test than abject Brugge when they return to the Premier League on Saturday and Leicester must learn to cope with the demands of the league and European football. 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.
“It took a while to get going but once we came into our own we got the goal at a good time”, he added.
With Porto and Copenhagen playing out a 1-1 draw, the group sets up nicely for Leicester to reach the knockout stages.
A break from the “dilly-ding, dilly-dong” of the Premier League proved a welcome respite for Leicester City after a poor start to their title defence.
Like we saw last year and the year before with Leicester, it’s fantastic what one win can do for this team’s confidence.
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Perhaps most pleasing was the performance of Mahrez, who has yet to reach the same heights of his PFA Player of the Season-winning campaign of 2015-16 in the early weeks of this term.
