Riyad Mahrez scored in each half as Leicester City enjoyed a dream debut in the Champions League on Wednesday, cruising to a 3-0 win over Club Brugge in Belgium.
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“It was an important win after that Liverpool defeat”, said Ranieri who has taken his teams out of the group stages in four of his five previous Champions League campaigns.
He added: “We want to continue in Europe and if that means eventually the Europa League then so be it”.
“It’s a big test against everyone because with Rostov we are the only two teams never to play in the Champions League”. We scored very early and that gave us more confidence during all the match. “It was very important to start with a victory”, said the Leicester boss.
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.
Albrighton’s opener was the ideal start to what promises to be an intriguing campaign, but more than one slice of luck went Leicester’s way in the early stages.
“Club Brugge moved the ball very well, they had the control of the ball but we had control of the match and that was good for us”.
As a European experience, it could not have been better.
Ranieri admitted he wanted record signing Islam Slimani to take the spot-kick, after Jamie Vardy was fouled by Ludovic Butelle – but is pleased Mahrez is back on track. We showed exactly what we can do.
The quarter of an hour between that stunning strike and the half-time whistle could have brought more goals for the English side, but Mahrez curled another effort just wide after a one-two with Slimani just outside the box.
If he had missed, Ranieri joked, “I take the neck and crush the neck! No fear, we just played our football and let that do the talking”, said England striker Vardy, a constant menace for the bewildered home back line.
“It’s impossible to win the Champions League”, Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri said on Tuesday. “Maybe he’s exhausted of dilly-ding, dilly dong and the Champions League music woke him”.
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.
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“After two minutes we could have scored and the game was totally different”, lamented their coach Michel Preud homme.
