A Big Effort, Says Cifuentes

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A Big Effort, Says Cifuentes

Martí Cifuentes credited his team’s efforts to get over the line against Stoke City on Saturday, recording a 2-1 victory at King Power Stadium.

2025-11-23T08:20+00:00

by Sam Jones

Published

23 Nov, 2025

A Big Effort, Says Cifuentes

Martí Cifuentes credited his team’s efforts to get over the line against Stoke City on Saturday, recording a 2-1 victory at King Power Stadium.

Sam Jones

2025-11-23T08:20+00:00

A Big Effort, Says Cifuentes

Martí Cifuentes credited his team’s efforts to get over the line against Stoke City on Saturday, recording a 2-1 victory at King Power Stadium.

Sam Jones

2025-11-23T08:20+00:00

A Big Effort, Says Cifuentes

Martí Cifuentes credited his team’s efforts to get over the line against Stoke City on Saturday, recording a 2-1 victory at King Power Stadium.

Sam Jones

2025-11-23T08:20+00:00

A Big Effort, Says Cifuentes

Martí Cifuentes credited his team’s efforts to get over the line against Stoke City on Saturday, recording a 2-1 victory at King Power Stadium.

Sam Jones

2025-11-23T08:20+00:00

Leicester City seal a 2-1 win against Stoke City in the Sky Bet Championship
Goals from Stephy Mavididi and Patson Daka saw the Foxes over the line
Bae Jun-Ho pulled one back for the Potters, who were beaten at King Power Stadium
Manager Martí Cifuentes gave his verdict on earning another three points

Two goals to the good following first strikes this term from both Stephy Mavididi and Patson Daka, the visitors responded soon after the break, through Bae Jun-Ho, making it a nervy finish on Filbert Way.

The Foxes battled hard, remaining solid at the back to hold out in the relentless rain, however, recording consecutive Sky Bet Championship victories for just the second time this season, much to Cifuentes’ delight post-match.

“I’m very happy,” the Spaniard told us following full-time. “Especially for the fans and for the players who made a big effort today. I’m pleased for the hard work that everybody put into it.

“Of course now we’re going to try and enjoy it but recover well because on Tuesday we go again. That’s the nature of the Championship, especially now with the period we are going to face, hopefully they can enjoy tonight.

“That’s the problem of being a Manager, you cannot enjoy the wins too much because you are always thinking about what is next, but I think it was important to achieve back-to-back wins.

“I definitely think, in the last three games, the team has been working really hard and I would say it has always been the foundation of what we want to achieve here. I’ve spoken about the culture and the mentality and we know we can improve in many areas of the game but when they work hard for each other, I’m very pleased.”

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The first of three games this week, with a trip to Southampton coming up on Tuesday, this could be the start of a momentum-building period for City, who have now moved into the top 10, one point outside of the play-off positions.

The 43-year-old continued: “I think that we need to be humble and accept that in the Championship sometimes you need to grind it out and in that sense it’s definitely very important for the confidence, and to build some momentum, to get the result as well.

“We actually spoke at half-time that it was important to score the third one and we kept pushing because we knew one goal could change the development of the second half a little bit.

“Unfortunately, we conceded in this second action in the set piece. It was difficult mentally but that’s why I’m happy about the mentality of the guys. It’s sometimes that we’ve been talking about we can improve.

“Culturally, these wins are so important. Even when a team is in good momentum, in the last minutes they have nothing to lose, risking more, putting more bodies up front and then you need to know how to manage it.”

Reflecting on each of the Leicester goals, both well taken, it gave us a real platform in the game, growing in confidence as the half went on.

“Today we needed a little bit of this individual quality in those moments,” the Spaniard explained. “I’m very pleased for Stephy, because we know that he is a brilliant player and we want him to be back to these kinds of levels.

“The first one is a fantastic action from Stephy, really good in the way he dribbles and managed to not only carry it, but then a fantastic strike with his left foot. His performance today was amazing and at the end we wanted to protect him a little bit in a week like this.

“I think the second one is a really good turnover, really good combination. A good pass from Skippy and then Pato finishes nicely, so credit to all of them.

“I’m very pleased for Pato because he has been working very hard. It has not been an easy period for him, but then he scores a goal and he gets his reward for all the hard work he’s been doing for the team.”

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