Celtic 1 Leicester City 1: Foxes win penalty shootout as Riyad Mahrez grabs the headlines

LEICESTER CITY began their International Champions Cup campaign with a win after their hotly contested clash with Celtic went to penalties.

The deadlock was broken by a slice of magic from Riyad Mahrez when he picked the ball up on the right touchline before cutting in on his left foot before bending the ball into the far corner.

Celtic pushed for an equaliser and they were rewarded with a well-placed strike by Eoghan O’Connell from 25 yards.

Neither side could find a winner before Daniel Amartey scored the winning penalty in a 6-5 shootout.

•  Kolo Toure was at Celtic Park, but Brendan Rodgers admits his former Liverpool stopper will not be ready for Celtic’s crunch midweek Champions’ League qualifier against Astana in Kazakhstan.
•  Leicester fans wound up the Celtic support before a ball had been kicked, chanting: “Just like Leicester, your city is BLUE!” Ouch!
• Riyad Mahrez is in Leicester’s starting line-up as the Foxes blast suggestions coming from France that he’s sealed a £50million move to Arsenal. What’s more he scored!
•  Claudio Ranieri Tinkered with his line-up as both sides play mix-and-match selections. There were starts for three new Foxes – Ron-Robert Zieler, Luis Hernandez and Nampalys Mendy who all cruised through.
•  England Under-21 left-back Ben Chilwell was also handed a start and looks ready to snub Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp to sign a new five-year-deal with the Foxes.
•  Claudio Ranieri called it right – this was no Battle of Britain! Both teams have bigger fish to fry in the coming days and weeks and it showed.
• At least the punters saw a couple of cracking goals for their hard-earned-cash. Mahrez added another nought to his value with a series of stepovers and curling left-footer into the far corner, 51 seconds after the break.
• Celtic’s unlikely hero in Hoops was Cork youngster Eoghan O’Connell – cousin of Ireland rugby skipper Paul O’Connell. The 20-year-old kid defender curled a sweet right-footer beyond Kasper Schmeichel to level the scores.
• Celtic are the only top flight club in the country to have a safe-standing area. It was noisy but scarcely populated – despite the healthy 32,858 crowd. The jury is out for now on its merits.
• Among a flurry of second half subs, Leicester’s record £16.6million signing Ahmed Musa still made his mark as his lightning pace almost embarrassed experienced Celtic keeper Craig Gordon. He’s going to be another Vardy-style nightmare for defenders!

LEICESTER’S NEXT FIVE FIXTURES

Leicester v Paris Saint-Germain – Jul 30 (ICC)

Leicester v Barcelona – Aug 3 (ICC)

Leicester v Manchester United – Aug 7 (Community Shield)

Hull v Leicester – Aug 13 (Premier League)

Leicester v Arsenal – Aug 20 (Premier League)

SOCIAL SAYS

WHAT THEY SAID

Leicester City boss Claudio Ranieri: “Very happy today. We were concentrated and compact. Now we play two different sides in PSG and Barcelona.

“Players came back in good condition. We are getting better. Celtic’s fitness is ahead of ours. It was a good challenge.

“We have a long journey to LA now, but the experience of playing in these fantastic matches is important.

“Our fans were fantastic. So many of them travelled a long way to Glasgow so I say thank you to them.”

Celtic boss Brendan Rodgers: “It was a good exercise for us. For a pre-season friendly it was played at a good intensity.

“For is the main objective was the fitness element, very important for us, mixing between competition and preparation phrase.

“You are also playing for pride as well and I felt the players played very well.

“When you have so many games, it’s near impossible to use the same players in every match, it’s still very early.

“We are still working to improve our fitness and ideas. We still want a few more players to come in and help the team.”