Saturday 25 August 2018 18:59, UK
Claude Puel insists Harry Maguire's winner in Leicester's 2-1 win over Southampton is a result of hard work on the training ground.
With Leicester struggling to find a winner against ten-man Saints at St Mary's, up stepped Maguire in stoppage time, as he drilled home from distance, through a sea of Southampton defenders, to secure Leicester a second successive victory.
Ryan Bertrand had given Saints the lead seven minutes after the interval before Demarai Gray levelled things up four minutes later. Maguire, though, after Pierre-Emile Hojbjerg was dismissed for two bookable offences, had the final say.
"It is a fantastic feeling for him and the rest of the team [to win so late]," Puel said. "He has good feet. He stays behind at the end of training to try and score set pieces, to work on his free-kicks. He has a good shot and he tries and tries.
"It was a complete game for him and this team-mates. All the squad defended well in the first half, it was tough to play against Southampton."
Puel was particularly impressed with Leicester's ability to come back into the match so soon after Bertrand's opener, praising the calmness in his side against his former employer.
"We showed our character and personality," Puel added. "When they scored, we came back with a desire to get back into the game. We were losing away from home, against a good team, but we showed great quality to come back into the game without panicking and remaining calm to win this game."
Puel insisted his bullish pitch-invasion celebrations had nothing to do with his Southampton sacking. The Foxes manager stormed the pitch with some energetic double fist-pumping when Maguire's low drive went in. Puel could have been forgiven for relishing a revenge victory over former employers Southampton, who sacked him in 2017 after guiding the club to an eighth-place Premier League finish and the League Cup final.
Asked if his out-of-character celebration was motivated by his Saints sacking, Puel replied: "No, no, no: nothing about this, because I have a lot of respect for all the people working at Southampton.
"It was just about the circumstance of the game, and it was a tough game, difficult to play against this team and we have had good desire and a good reaction to keep our calm and to play the second part of the game and to win this time is a fantastic feeling."
