Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri credited the Champions League music with waking up Riyad Mahrez following his two goals in Wednesday’s win over Club Brugge.
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The winger scored twice in Wednesday’s impressive 3-0 win at Club Brugge as the Foxes marked their debut in the competition with a stunning victory.
Marc Albrighton broke the deadlock for Leicester before two set-pieces from Riyad Mahrez either side of half-time, one free-kick and the other a penalty, ensured the club’s historic night will be remembered fondly.
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.
Do you agree with our player ratings? “We scored very early and that gave us more confidence”, Ranieri told UEFA.
There will be tougher matches to come for Leicester – their next fixture is a home tie against Group G favourites Porto on 27 September – but the romp against Brugge will have given the Foxes the self-belief that they’re good enough for the Champions League.
“We’ve got to this level of football life where that would normally be done down, but because they won at Man City and then went on to win the league it’s been rightly lauded”.
While Ranieri insisted it was not an easy evening, Club Brugge were certainly accommodating for Leicester, making it an unforgettable trip for their supporters, who had spent the afternoon enjoying the scorching sunshine and the pleasant ambience in the picturesque Belgian city. It was a very good victory.
He then converted a 61st-minute penalty to seal a flawless night for Claudio Ranieri’s side, who are already top of the section after Porto and FC Copenhagen drew 1-1 in the other game.
His hat-trick helped Pep Guardiola’s side to a 4-0 win and the ideal start to European campaign.
“Maybe the music woke up him!” the Leicester manager said.
“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. We showed exactly what we can do. “Maybe he’s exhausted of dilly-ding, dilly dong and the Champions League music woke him”.
“We can use the result”, said the England midfielder.
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I wanted to convince Sergio (Aguero) that his talent in the box to score goals is natural. “He was a lucky man!” One we lost, one we won – it’s finished.
