“It’s a good group in terms of the travelling but we can’t take the teams for granted, they are big teams with a lot of experience and we need to be ready for whatever comes up against us”.
Advertisement
While their fans celebrated a ideal Champions League debut, Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri called for nobody to get carried away after Wednesday s 3-0 romp away to Club Brugge in Belgium.
The Premier League champions blew the Belgians away as they made their bow in the Champions League, romping to victory with Marc Albrighton scoring after just five minutes and Riyad Mahrez rediscovering his scoring touch with a brace.
The goal secured his position in the club’s history as their first-ever scorer in the competition, and their first in Europe since 2000.
“The problem is if someone is thinking of the music, then I ring my bell”, said Ranieri, who gave his players bells as Christmas gifts previous year.
Albrighton scored after Jose Izquierdo blew the hosts’ best chance just two minutes into the contest when the striker shot wide with only Kasper Schmeichel to beat. Jamie Vardy was brought down in the box in the second half and Mahrez slotted home his second of the night.
For a squad that famously contains former non-league players, Leicester handled the jump to the European stage with surprising maturity and confidence.
The Italian manager also admitted that he had wanted debutant club record signing Islam Slimani to take the penalty that Mahrez converted. But Nigeria’s Kelechi Iheanacho completed the rout.
It is a long-standing tradition for Club Brugge fans to sing “You’ll Never Walk Alone” before each home match, but for Champions League visitors Leicester City, the tune must have been a sour reminder of their 4-1 thrashing by Liverpool at the weekend. We showed exactly what we can do. “Of course, Burnley want to increase the tempo because they might think we’re exhausted but I don’t believe it”.
Leicester captain Wes Morgan has warned their Champions League rivals to underestimate the Premier League champions at their peril. “It was good for us to start our story with a victory”.
Advertisement
Vardy forced the French stopper into another save on the stroke of half-time after latching onto Slimani’s flick, but Ranieri had to be content with a two-goal cushion going into the break after a vintage performance from his charges in the opening 45 minutes.
