A Professional Performance, Says Cifuentes

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A Professional Performance, Says Cifuentes

Martí Cifuentes came away pleased with the application of his players in the 2-0 triumph over Cheltenham Town.

2026-01-11T09:00+00:00

by Sam Jones

Published

11 Jan, 2026

A Professional Performance, Says Cifuentes

Martí Cifuentes came away pleased with the application of his players in the 2-0 triumph over Cheltenham Town.

Sam Jones

2026-01-11T09:00+00:00

A Professional Performance, Says Cifuentes

Martí Cifuentes came away pleased with the application of his players in the 2-0 triumph over Cheltenham Town.

Sam Jones

2026-01-11T09:00+00:00

A Professional Performance, Says Cifuentes

Martí Cifuentes came away pleased with the application of his players in the 2-0 triumph over Cheltenham Town.

Sam Jones

2026-01-11T09:00+00:00

A Professional Performance, Says Cifuentes

Martí Cifuentes came away pleased with the application of his players in the 2-0 triumph over Cheltenham Town.

Sam Jones

2026-01-11T09:00+00:00

Leicester City saw off Cheltenham Town in the Emirates FA Cup Third Round
Saturday’s 2-0 win came courtesy of Patson Daka and Stephy Mavididi’s goals
Martí Cifuentes provided his reaction to a result which sees his side into round four
The Manager felt it was important to quieten the home crowd early and get the job done

Saturday’s success at The EV Charger Points Stadium saw Leicester safely through to round four of the Emirates FA Cup, avoiding a potential upset against the Sky Bet League 2 outfit.

Providing his initial reaction following full-time in Gloucestershire, City’s Manager felt his team approached the game in the right manner, with first-half goals from Patson Daka and Stephy Mavididi enough to secure victory on the road.

“I would say [it was] a professional performance,” he began, speaking post-match. “It’s never easy and these kind of games can be tricky, but I think the way the players managed, particularly the first half, was good. I’m happy to get through.

“It’s massive because we knew that in this type of game, conceding a corner kick or conceding a chance, I think it creates a lot of momentum and a lot of noise in the crowd and then it’s important to keep your head cool and make sure you do the right things.

“It was definitely very important to score the first one and take the lead. I think the second goal from Stephy as well gave us even more calm and more desire to keep pushing in the second [half].

“The message for the second 45 was that it was important to try to score the third goal. Unfortunately, that was not the case, but we were close, especially near the end, but the pitch was not getting better, it started to get a bit bumpy, it wasn’t the best, but it’s something that we need to look at ourselves about how we can deal with it.”

A first shutout since the goalless home draw with Coventry City back in September, Cifuentes was pleased to end that wait, while also being impressed with the Academy graduates he fielded, with seven on the pitch by full-time, after he made eight changes to the XI.

Photo 1/31

Match imagery from our Emirates FA Cup Third Round success at Cheltenham.

“Especially the clean sheet, it’s been a while since we got the last one,” the Spaniard explained. “Asmir [Begović] always gives us his leadership and his experience. We know that whoever plays in goal, whether it’s him, Jakub [Stolarczyk] or Fran [Vieites], all of them are ready to help the team.

“For the confidence of many players, some of them today played a lot of minutes and I’m very happy for them, because they hadn’t played much in the last games. I’m very happy for them. All of them showed good things.

“I said that they (Academy players) would be an important part of this process, we are still in this process and building but it was very nice. Louis [Page] played a very good 90 minutes, Bade (Olabade Aluko) as well was playing well in his position, obviously Ben [Nelson] has been playing lately and doing well as well.

“It was important that everybody got minutes. Happy to see Wanya [Marçal] getting some minutes at the end, Jez (Jeremy Monga) always has an impact coming from the bench. I’m happy with all of them and it’s important that we keep the faith and patience with them because they are going to be very important.”

With consecutive victories under our belt, following on from the Sky Bet Championship success against West Bromwich Albion earlier this week, attention now turns back to the league and next weekend’s meeting with the Sky Blues.

The 43-year-old added: “For us it was important to try and get back-to-back wins after our last league game and get another one. The FA Cup is a beautiful competition and we want to go as far as we can.

“Leicester has a big history in this competition so we want to do our best, but at the same time, it’s important to build more confidence for the next game against Coventry.

“I appreciate all the fans travelling here helping us and hopefully we can deliver another good performance next Saturday.”

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