Claudio Ranieri: 'We showed the true Leicester against Manchester City'

Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri has claimed that his side's performance during this afternoon's 4-2 victory over Manchester City showcased the "true" Leicester.

The Premier League champions have made a poor start to their title defence, losing half of their opening 14 matches, but they blew Man City away in the first half this afternoon on their way to a memorable victory.

Ranieri was pleased with how his side responded to their 5-0 defeat to Porto in midweek, and reserved special praise for Jamie Vardy, who ended his goal drought in spectacular fashion with a hat-trick.

"It was the true Leicester today, maybe because we have played so badly in our last few matches, but today we were so strong. We wanted to do best for our fans because they support us a lot and travel to Portugal and we did not play so well. For this reason we wanted to show our best," he told BBC Sport.

"We played smart, slowed down the tempo, everyone know what we do but it is important to score two goals very early. This is our strength, we can't keep possession often, our strength is to play fast, find a solution.

"I told my players the result is always important but today we had to fight till the end. I am very please for Jamie, when he finished I said 'oh welcome back'."

The win took Leicester four points clear of the Premier League relegation zone.