Ranieri: Play With Strength And Soul

- Jamie Vardy scored both goals to keep City three points clear at the top of the table 

- Next up is a trip to second placed Manchester City on Saturday 

- Ranieri delighted to see Jamie Vardy approaching peak fitness

Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri believes his players are giving everything on the pitch because they want to achieve something ‘special’ in the Barclays Premier League this season. 

An impressive 2-0 victory over Liverpool at King Power Stadium on Tuesday night kept them three points clear at the top of the table and underlined just what an incredible season they’ve been enjoying so far. 

With just 14 games left to play, the opportunity for the Foxes to make something of their season is there, and it’s this, along with the desire to reward the fans, that Ranieri believes is helping motivate them to leave everything out on the pitch. 

Liverpool are one of only two teams to beat Ranieri’s side this season, having won 1-0 at Anfield on Boxing Day, but thanks to Jamie Vardy’s stunning brace on Tuesday, there was no danger of a repeat. 

“I don’t know if it (the motivating factor) was that defeat or whether it’s that they are convinced that they can do something special this season,” Ranieri told Foxes Player HD. “This is great because there is a good atmosphere between us and in the dressing room. We must continue in this way. 

“We know we can lose sooner or later but it’s important to continue to play in this way with this strength and with this soul. We put in our souls, not just our hearts; everything we put in for our fans. 

“I’m very pleased with our performance because Liverpool is a good team with good players and a good manager. They play well, they press and go on the counter attack. 

“I said in the pre-match they play like us, but tonight we made a fantastic performance. We wanted to win the match and created good chances in the first half - one with [Shinji] Okazaki and two with [Riyad] Mahrez. 

“At the start of the second half I don’t know why we weren’t so concentrated and they had a chance to score a goal but after this dangerous moment we reacted very well and created more good football.” 

Vardy’s goals stood out as a highlight from the game, with Ranieri delighted to see his striker looking so sharp and at peak fitness after a minor groin operation. 

He added: “Now he’s back to work during the training session. For one month he didn’t train because he had a [groin] problem and we kept him calm without training, just to play and of course slowly his fitness went down, and now it’s getting better and better.”