Claudio Ranieri pep talk inspired Leicester's winning moment

Striker Slimani's header gave the Foxes a second 1-0 win to start their Group G campaign and maintain a 100 per cent start in the Champions League.

The £29million forward has now scored six goals against Porto in 2016 to be labelled the 'Dragon Slayer' - a reference to Porto's nickname - after his strikes for former club Sporting Lisbon.

He has scored three goals in his first four Leicester games and, following his effort at the King Power Stadium, Ranieri said he had told Algeria international team-mates Slimani and Mahrez he expected them to produce.

"I was very confident with Slimani - because he often scored against Porto when he was a Sporting player," he said.

"I spoke with Riyad and Islam and said 'come on guys' let's make something special tonight, they made the pass and goal and it was good. After we defended very well and were very well organised.

"I am happy when I see my players play with this spirit. I was not surprised.

"It's important that Slimani adapts to the way we play, because we have to improve the movement for the strikers."

Jesus Corona hit the post with eight minutes left as the Foxes were forced to ride out late pressure but deservedly took the victory following their opening 3-0 win at Club Brugge earlier this month but Ranieri refused to speak about reaching the knock-out stages.

"I am superstitious, we have to stay calm, Copenhagen won 4-0, they are very organised," he said. " For us now it's important to clean our mind and go back to the Premier League."

Ranieri is also 33/1 to replace Sam Allardyce after he left as England boss by mutual consent after just 67 days in charge following his appearance in a Daily Telegraph investigation into corruption.

The Italian, who had an unhappy spell with Greece in 2014, laughed off the link and also said he had not discussed Allardyce's departure and what it means with his assistant Craig Shakespeare, who was part of Allardyce's backroom team.

"The bookmakers - you know I have not good relationships with the bookmakers," said Ranieri, who was favourite to be sacked last season before winning the Premier League. " I don't know. For now I'm very focused on the victory of tonight."

Porto have not won in 17 games in England and were poor for long spells and only roused themselves in the final 20 minutes as Kasper Schmeichel saved from Hector Herrera and Corona hit the post.

They have one point from their opening two games and boss Nuno Espirito Santo knows they already face a battle to make it out of the group.

"Copenhagen won so we have no margin for error and this is a chance for us and we must go beyond our limits to do it," he said.

"It's not easy to come to the Premier League champions and start from the first minute like we finished. It's a challenge but I'm quite optimistic for the future.

"I just wish my players started the same way from the first minute like we did in the last 10-15 minutes. We can dominate like we did in the last 20 minutes. These 20 minutes can be during 90 minutes."