Leicester City: ‘CL is the stuff of dreams’ says Danny Drinkwater
By Jake Cursley
Leicester City midfielder and England international Danny Drinkwater says that the foxes’ debut in the Champions League was the stuff of dreams.
Leicester City opened their European campaign on Wednesday night with a bang.
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Scoring the only 3 goals of the night, the foxes smashed their Group G opposition Club Brugge away from home in Belgium.
Marc Albrighton scored Leicester City’s first ever Champions League goal, followed by a stunning freekick and a penalty from PFA Player of The Year Riyad Mahrez.
The fans weren’t the only ones taken in by the occasion.
Danny Drinkwater speaking to the media said:
"“The whole experience from yesterday’s training to the match, the music, the badge on the kit, as daft as it sounds, it’s Champions League football, it’s what dreams are made of.”"
"“We can use it, we can take this result and go into Saturday with more confidence."
After a shaky start to the season, with just 4 points from 4 games and sitting in 16th place, Leicester City host Burnley this Saturday.
The 3pm kickoff will have many fans hoping for a Premier League debut for club record signing Islam Slimani, following his €35m transfer from Sporting Lisbon.
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Slimani got just over an hour under his belt in a Leicester City shirt before boss Claudio Ranieri substituted him for Leonardo Ulloa.
A mixed performance from the Algerian is to be expected on his debut with new team-mates.
With his countryman Riyad Mahrez by his side, it shouldn’t take long for Islam to get up to speed with life in the East Midlands.
Whilst Slimani may get away with a mixed bag of performances, Mahrez will not escape the criticism.
It’s been a rough start to the season for the Player of The Year, who after scoring in the opening game of the season against Hull City went on a bad run of form.
Foxes fans will hope that the two midweek goals in Belgium in the Champions League will be a wake-up call.
Manager Claudio Ranieri, as charismatic as ever, joked that the Champions League anthem woke the Algerian up.
"“Maybe he is tired of hearing dilly ding dilly dong all the time,”"
Said Ranieri
"“Now we have to stay calm and put our mind to the next match on Saturday.”"
Leicester City will be expected to win against the newly promoted Burnley side that have yo-yoed back and forth from the Premier League in the past few seasons.
Burnley were promoted alongside Leicester City during the 13/14 campaign but were relegated in their first season following promotion.
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This was the season that saw the foxes pull off the great escape from the relegation zone under Nigel Pearson.
Now that they’re back, Burnley currently sit just one place above Leicester City in the table on goal difference with 4 points.
Previously this fixture would have been a ‘relegation dogfight 6 pointer’ now it’s Champion vs. relegation fodder. How times change.