Cape Town - New Leicester City manager Craig Shakespeare hailed his side
after they defeated Spanish side Sevilla 2-0 on Tuesday night to
progress to the last eight of the Champions League.
Goals from skipper Wes Morgan and Marc Albrighton plus a penalty save
from Kasper Schmiechel sealed a 3-2 aggregate win for the Foxes, who
have been revitalised since the departure of Premier League winning
coach Claudio Ranieri.
Since Ranieri was sacked, Shakespeare has won all three of his
matches in charge of the Premier League champions, and the newly
installed manager was full of praise for his players.
"Immense. The players can be immensely proud and the club in general,
to pull off a result like this," Shakespeare told TV cameras after the
game.
"We went in to be competitive but I thought we were immense. We rode
our luck at times but the character the players showed was immense and
there for everyone to see.
"These players enjoy pressing from the front. The idea was to try and
make it as uncomfortable as we could. We set the game plan out
tremendously.
"Goals change games and Wes gets the first one and puts us in the driver's seat
"[Schmeichel] is a great shot-stopper, when we needed him most he came up trumps.
"It'll be nice to pit our wits against someone else, we've just
knocked out one of the best teams in Europe. Their credentials are there
for everyone to see. As a club we can be immensely proud.
"The Champions League music ignites everyone and the crowd were
terrific. It's only three games and somewhere along the line there might
be a hiccup but I'll enjoy tonight."