Cifuentes: Full Focus On Ourselves

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Cifuentes: Full Focus On Ourselves

We will approach Sunday’s Sky Bet Championship opener with focus on our own objectives, says Martí Cifutentes, as he prepares for his competitive debut as Leicester City Manager.

2025-08-10T08:00+01:00

by Sam Stevens

Published

10 Aug, 2025

from LCFC Training Ground

Cifuentes: Full Focus On Ourselves

We will approach Sunday’s Sky Bet Championship opener with focus on our own objectives, says Martí Cifutentes, as he prepares for his competitive debut as Leicester City Manager.

Sam Stevens

2025-08-10T08:00+01:00

Cifuentes: Full Focus On Ourselves

We will approach Sunday’s Sky Bet Championship opener with focus on our own objectives, says Martí Cifutentes, as he prepares for his competitive debut as Leicester City Manager.

Sam Stevens

2025-08-10T08:00+01:00

Cifuentes: Full Focus On Ourselves

We will approach Sunday’s Sky Bet Championship opener with focus on our own objectives, says Martí Cifutentes, as he prepares for his competitive debut as Leicester City Manager.

Sam Stevens

2025-08-10T08:00+01:00

Cifuentes: Full Focus On Ourselves

We will approach Sunday’s Sky Bet Championship opener with focus on our own objectives, says Martí Cifutentes, as he prepares for his competitive debut as Leicester City Manager.

Sam Stevens

2025-08-10T08:00+01:00

A productive pre-season has come to a close – defined by the hard graft of the early weeks and the fine-tuning of recent days – with the squad braced for a demanding 25/26 campaign.

Sheffield Wednesday provide the first test at King Power Stadium on Sunday (4:30pm BST kick-off) – a team who have attracted plenty of attention this summer.

Although the Owls are facing well-known issues ahead of the opening weekend, Cifuentes has no doubts that Henrik Pedersen’s men will pose a stern challenge for his City outfit this Sunday.

Full respect

Martí Cifuentes is excited for his first competitive game in charge of the Foxes.

The Manager was keen to stress that the situation at Hillsborough could be a motivational factor for the Sheff Weds players who arrive on Filbert Way this Sunday.

He says Leicester will have to be at the top of their game to counteract this and be the ones who take three points from the opening weekend of the Championship season.

“I have full respect for the opposition, Sheffield Wednesday is a big club,” he told the media on Friday afternoon. “We read things in the media but the full focus is on ourselves. Especially in the situation they are in, we don’t need to lose our focus.

“We will respect them and be humble and I’m sure that perhaps all of this adversity, most of the time, creates a big commitment. I’m expecting a challenging game, a difficult game, because of perhaps the situation they are going through.

“There is always a level of uncertainty when you start a season. The pre-season games might be a bit different. In their case as well, the last friendly game was cancelled, so obviously we haven't got as much information as usual. In any case, it’s true that I know the coach Henrik Pedersen because we played against each other during my time in the Norwegian league.

“I think what we need to do is understand the philosophy behind them, understand the players they’ve got, but as well to be aware that the first game of the season can be about the emotions.

“All the people want to start with a victory, so the emotion will be very important. The fact is we can play at home with our fans, who I’m sure will be behind us, so we’ll focus on ourselves. We’ll take the performance we had last week against Fiorentina, while understanding it’s going to be a completely different game, and that’s where our focus is at the moment.”

Ricardo takes the armband

Ricardo Pereira is the new Leicester City Club Captain.

Cifuentes also used Friday’s media rounds as an opportunity to confirm our new Club Captain, with experienced full-back Ricardo Pereira taking the armband.

Supported by players in our senior leadership group, the FA Cup and FA Community Shield winner was a natural choice for the Manager after consulting players and staff at the Club.

“I definitely think that his career speaks for itself,” he explained. “He’s a quality player that has been at the Club a long time. He knows the changing room very well.

“I’ve seen in the conversations we’ve had together over the last weeks what a great professional he is, the respect he has from the players, so it’s an easy choice.

“That’s why we’ve got what we call internally a leaders group. We’ve got some players who will support the captain in certain areas and to help as well to drive the culture and the standards we want in the Club, and to help the young players that are coming in to understand what it means to play for Leicester – for this badge.”

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