Barnes’ Personal & Team Joy

- Harvey Barnes reflected on an enjoyable evening for both himself and his Leicester City team-mates after beating Zorya Luhansk
- The City winger scored his side’s second goal in a 3-0 victory in the UEFA Europa League
- Barnes says he has been perfecting his finishing on the Belvoir Drive training pitches

Barnes thundered a strike onto the inside of the post, with James Maddison eventually converting the loose ball for 1-0, before the Leicester City No.15 made it 2-0 with a delicate chip on the stroke of half-time.

Nigeria forward Kelechi Iheanacho extended Leicester’s advantage late on, and for Barnes, it was a performance in which he and the rest of his team-mates oozed confidence.

“On a personal level, I'm very pleased,” Barnes told LCFC TV. “As a team, we're also very pleased. We knew it was important to get a good start to the campaign, which we have done tonight. We're obviously happy to get a few goals as well.

“They had good moments in the game. Kasper [Schmeichel] had to make a great save in first half, so it could have been a much more difficult game if that goes in.

“But I thought in general we dealt with them very well. We played some very good football, we created some good chances and that showed with goals.”

Netting his second strike of 2020/21, Barnes expressed his desire to add more goals to his game, and explained why hard work at Belvoir Drive will yield that success.

He said: “Sometimes, when you go through one-on-one, it looks easy to finish, but it's not always easy. So it is just about keeping composed and picking your spot and I was happy it went in.

“I think on the training ground, you work on finishing as much as you can as an attacking player. Something for me, myself, I want to add as many goals to my game as I can. Working on finishing is going to improve that.”

Bursting with confidence after getting their Group G campaign underway with a victory, it is the ability to express themselves that led to their joint-largest win on the European stage, Barnes believes. 

“I think it's easy to play with a lot of confidence in this team and we play such good football at times,” said Barnes.

“The gaffer gives us that licence to go and express ourselves in the final third. So, it's great as an attacking player.

“You know you've got full confidence in the manager and the team to go and link up and create goalscoring opportunities for yourself and for others.

“I think for the majority of us, it's the first time in the competition, so it's something new to us. But we're all very excited for what's to come. Today was a dream start: three points and a few goals, so it's onwards and upwards. 

“It's a very busy schedule with the Premier League, and then in this as well. We want to take our good form into both of them. But, like you said, we want to start this as well as we can.

“Tonight's been a great step in the right direction, and then, like you say, next week it will be a tough one, away from home, so we're looking forward to that.”