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Ranieri upbeat after Barca loss

Cape Town - Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri took a lot of positives from his side's 4-2 loss to Barcelona in their International Champions Cup played in Stockholm on Wednesday evening.

The Premier League champions were trailing 3-0 at the break before the introduction of summer signing and Nigerian international Ahmed Musa, who got his side back into the match with two well-taken goals.

Munir had opened the scoring on the night with his goal on 26 minutes before Luis Suarez added a quick-fire second less than ten minutes later. Munir added a second on the stroke of half-time before Musa's 47th and 66th minute goals.

And despite a sustained effort by the Leicester players, it was Rafa Mujica who had the final say with his 84th-minute effort.

A beaming Ranieri said after the game: "I'm very, very pleased with our performance, because I saw the right spirit.

"I saw good tactical discipline. When we got the ball we tried to play good football, but of course at this moment it is not possible to do this. In the second half we got back to 3-2, which was good. It was a good match."

On his exceptional new talent, the 64-year-old added: "He is an international player and his performance was good. Everyone saw that.

"Now, he has to understand the Premier League. We paid a lot of money for him because we believe in him.

"What he showed today, he showed pace, quality, scoring goals. That is it.

"Musa can play in this way and also when he improves his fitness he can also play in the wide positions, just like (fellow new signing Bartosz) Kapustka.

"We know him very, very well. He can play in all the positions, striker, behind, right, left. It's important his fitness is getting better."

Musa, meanwhile, was naturally delighted with his contribution: "It was a very good performance, it's not easy to play against a big team like Barcelona.

"My performance, I'm very happy coming in and getting the two goals - it's not easy.

"We can see a lot of improvement, because against PSG we lost 4-0 but against Barcelona we got 4-2. It's not easy, but we're working very hard to achieve more things.

"I'm going to work very hard to help the team. I am in the group now, we are like a family, and at the end of the season we will see what we are able to achieve."

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