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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Marc Albrighton also got a goal on a ideal night for the Premier League champions as they ran out 3-0 winners against a poor Club Brugge side.
Marc Albrighton opened the scoring with Leicester’s first shot on goal and Riyad Mahrez hit a brace as the Foxes opened up their Champions League account with a victory.
A shock defeat at Hull City in their opening game and a heavy 4-1 loss at Liverpool last week means they have just four points from as many games so far this term. “It’s a big test against everyone because with Rostov we are the only two teams never to play in the Champions League”, said Ranieri. We need to concentrate on our league form and get some wins there and that’s where it matters.
“Now we have to stay calm and put our mind to the next match on Saturday [at home to Burnley]”.
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.
“Maybe at the beginning we surprised them. Maybe he was very, very exhausted of listening to dilly ding, dilly dong, maybe he preferred the Champions League music”, said Ranieri, reverting to a classic catchphrase. “Hopefully we can pick something up at the weekend, carry this form into the league and do a good job there”. “It’s the ideal start”, said the Leicester striker. We showed exactly what we can do.
If he had missed, Ranieri joked, “I take the neck and crush the neck!”
“I tried to say Slimani because he is a penalty scorer but he (Mahrez) has the personality to choose. He was a lucky man”.
Villa drew 1-1 with Brentford in the Championship at the same time Leicester started their Champions League campaign and Albrighton knows his two-year rise has been remarkable.
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Manager Michel Preud’homme said; “Football is simple, to win a game you have to score goals and not concede too much”. “We have to perform better offensively and defensively if we want to win that kind of game”.
