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Leicester manager Ranieri delivers on pizza promise

October 26, 2015 17:50 IST

‘It's (pizza) carbohydrate, good for the muscles’

Claudio Ranieri, left, Manager of Leicester City congratulates Jamie Vardy

IMAGE: Claudio Ranieri, left, Manager of Leicester City congratulates Jamie Vardy. Photograph: Ross Kinnaird/Getty Images

Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri will deliver on his vow to buy pizza for the squad after they kept their first clean sheet of the season in beating Crystal Palace 1-0 at the weekend.

Jamie Vardy scored for the seventh Premier League game in a row on Saturday, becoming the eighth player to achieve the feat, as fifth-placed Leicester gave Ranieri a belated gift 72 hours after his 64th birthday.

The Italian, appointed in July, cracked open some champagne in honour of the occasion.

"Champagne and pizza is good," Ranieri told reporters. "I'm very happy. I'm pleased with our attention and also in the last 10 minutes we showed our character, our fitness, everything.

"I (will) ask them when they want to eat pizza," he added of the promise he made last month. "It's carbohydrate, good for the muscles."

Despite Leicester's lofty position, Ranieri said his team would not get carried away and that avoiding relegation was still the goal.

"We must achieve 40 points to be safe," he added. "Now 21 (more) because that is my philosophy."

Vardy drew special praise. The England striker has 10 league goals this season, four more than his closest rivals, and turned in another hard-working performance against Palace.

"I tell him every time you play for the team, continue to fight, continue to press, continue to run, continue to attack the line, the defensive line, that's as important," said Ranieri.

"You can score or you can't score. The performance must be good."

Source: REUTERS
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