Champions League draw: Claudio Ranieri calls upon Leicester City players to 'fight for everything' in debut campaign

The English champions have also been aligned alongside Club Brugge and Copenhagen

Claudio Ranieri gives his Leicester players instructions during the Community Shield (Getty)

Claudio Ranieri has called upon his Leicester City players to “fight for everything” after being drawn with two-time winners Porto in the Champions League group stage draw.

The Premier League champions have also been aligned alongside Club Brugge and Copenhagen in Group G for their maiden campaign in European football’s platinum club competition and Ranieri is optimistic about his side’s chances of progressing.

The Italian, who has repeated his mantra that Leicester are underdogs this season, says the Champions League is a “wonderful opportunity” to continue the Leicester story, a footballing fable headlined by their title triumph.

Ranieri told LCFC.com: “Now that the teams have been drawn that excitement is building even more and although it won’t be easy against great champions like Porto, like everyone, I’m curious to see how my players perform.”

Leicester open their Champions League campaign with a trip to Belgium to face Brugge at the Jan Breydel Stadium on 14 September before hosting Porto at the King Power Stadium a fortnight later.

“Once again I say we are underdogs,” added Ranieri. “For this reason we must fight for everything. I want to see my players fight against the best in Europe. Every team in the competition will fight like champions and we must give 100 per cent to make our supporters proud.

“Last season was wonderful but I want more. Now we are in the Champions League and we have another wonderful opportunity to show our quality. We know we have three tough away games but when we arrive at our stadium that is when I know we can show something special with our supporters behind us.

“Also I think our supporters deserve the chance to watch their team around Europe against teams like Porto, Club Brugge and FC Copenhagen, who are great European teams.

“They deserve this and I ask my players to help our wonderful supporters to enjoy this journey with us by giving everything they have on the pitch. It will be tough, but we come into this competition to win games and we want so much to progress into the knockout stages.”