Ranieri Hails ‘Important’ ICC Experience

- The Foxes boss believes increasing fitness and stamina is the most important outcome of their clash with Celtic 

- City take on the Scottish champions at Celtic Park on Saturday (5.30pm KO) 

Ahead of Saturday’s clash with Celtic at Celtic Park, Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri explained how beneficial the experience of playing in the International Champions Cup will be. 

The Foxes travelled to Glasgow and trained on the Celtic Park pitch for the first time on Friday ahead of their ICC opener against the Scottish champions. 

And the chance for the Club’s players to improve their fitness ahead of their FA Community Shield clash with Manchester United on Sunday 7 August against a talented side is highly valuable, according to the City boss. 

Speaking to the media at Celtic Park on Friday, Ranieri said: “Celtic are ahead of us. They’ve already played in the Champions League and it’ll be very good for us to increase our fitness and stamina. 

“It’ll be very good for us to get more experience. Giving all the players international experience is very important. 

“It’s (pre-season schedule) completely different. Last season, we were very close to Leicester and now we travel around the world. It’s good for our experience. 

“We play tomorrow against Celtic, and then against PSG in Los Angeles and then Barcelona in Stockholm – we hope we are ready to compete against Manchester United.” 

The City boss included all four of the Club’s summer signings – Ahmed Musa, Nampalys Mendy, Ron-Robert Zieler and Luis Hernandez – in the squad to face Celtic. 

Meanwhile, Jamie Vardy and Andy King will join up with the squad in Los Angeles for their second International Champions Cup fixture against Paris Saint-Germain on Saturday 30 July. 

Ranieri added: “I hope we are very good, but at the end it’s important 90 minutes or 60 minutes to all my players. That for me now is very important – the result is not important. 

“It’s important nobody has an injury and that everybody can improve their condition. I change something [from the Oxford game]. I’ll change the line-up and during the match I’ll change something more. 

“Jamie [Vardy] and Andy [King] will come to Los Angeles, and [Christian] Fuchs is with us – he’ll play some minutes tomorrow.”