Jamie Vardy in the same league as Gabriel Batistuta, says Leicester manager Claudio Ranieri after striker's rise into record books

• Jamie Vardy equalled Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of scoring in 10 consecutive Premier League matches with strike against Newcastle
• Claudio Ranieri's compared Vardy to Argentina legend Gabriel Batistuta
• Batistuta scored 11 goals in a row for Ranieri when he was at Fiorentina
• The manager marvel's at Vardy's rise from non-League football in 2012 

By Craig Hope for the Daily Mail

Published: 17:31 EST, 22 November 2015 | Updated: 05:39 EST, 23 November 2015

Claudio Ranieri paused for a split- second when he realised the comparison he had drawn.

Then, having accepted that Jamie Vardy and Gabriel Batistuta are perfectly at home in the same sentence, he continued.

‘Batistuta scored 11 goals in a row for me at Fiorentina - that is the best run by any player I have managed,’ said the Italian, whose current No 9 has now equalled Ruud van Nistelrooy’s record of netting in 10 consecutive Premier League matches.

Jamie Vardy celebrates Leicester's first goal on Saturday against Newcastle that put him in the record books

Vardy's strike at St James' Park put him level with Ruud van Nistelrooy's record on goals in 10 games in a row

Foxes boss Claudio Ranieri happily compared Vardy's form to that of Argentine legend Gabriel Batistuta

‘Vardy can achieve and beat this. It is amazing we are mentioning him in the same breath, so strange when four years ago he was playing non-League.

‘In my career, I know just one player like him who has taken the same route to the top. He was a Juventus player called Moreno Torricelli who went from non-League Caratese to Serie A and won the Scudetto.’

With each passing week, however, the sight of Vardy — like Torricelli, a former factory worker — scoring goals and terrorising top-flight defences is becoming less strange.

Leicester are top of the table and that is because of their England striker, as much as he and his boss may protest otherwise.

On Saturday, against a woeful Newcastle, the 28-year-old was again awesome. It was classy and entirely fitting of the St James’ Park crowd to rise and applaud him from the field when he made way 13 minutes from time.

The Geordies appreciated this working-class hero, for they had witnessed a player boasting the electrifying pace of Craig Bellamy allied to the finishing of Alan Shearer, two of their former favourites.

Vardy was awesome again on Saturday in Leicester's 3-0 win over Newcastle that took them top of the table

Batistuta scored in 11 games on the bounce for Fiorentina, the best run of goals Ranieri's seen as coach 

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Shearer, the Premier League’s all-time record goalscorer, had tweeted Vardy earlier in the day to wish him good luck, joking that any goal would be nothing more than a ‘consolation’. Shearer was not smiling when he later came to assess a ‘woeful, embarrassing, hopeless and inept’ Newcastle display, but on Vardy he said: ‘He’s the story of the season and I’m so pleased for him.’

It has been suggested he would be the ideal signing for a top-four team looking to inject some aggression and energy into their front line. Perhaps observers are forgetting his current side sit top of the table.

Not that Vardy is getting carried away. ‘It was a brilliant feeling to equal the record but the main thing was to go back home with the three points,’ said Vardy, preferring not to celebrate his feat, with the prospect of setting a new record against Manchester United next Saturday now the target.

‘We kept a clean sheet as well so Mr Ranieri might be getting the pizzas in again! But I’m keeping my feet on the ground. I’ll be getting back on that training field now, looking at ways where I can possibly hurt Man United’s defence.’

This isn’t a team that have shot to the top with the campaign in its infancy. Indeed, a third of the season has now passed and Leicester have deservedly clawed their way to the summit.

Vardy is the inspiration but his supporting cast are no less talented and tenacious.

His opener — he dropped his shoulder to escape a defender before smashing into the bottom corner — was followed by goals from Leonardo Ulloa and Shinji Okazaki, while Riyad Mahrez evoked memories of another former Tyneside resident, Hatem Ben Arfa.

Ben Arfa was unplayable at his best and Newcastle had no answer to Mahrez, the Algerian playmaker who tormented them with trickery and guile. The 24-year-old, signed from the French second division for £350,000 nearly two years ago, was a joy to watch.

Vardy's keeping his feet on the ground, though, saying getting the three points for the Foxes was the key 

As recently as 2012, Vardy was plying his trade in non-League football for Fleetwood Town

Newcastle, meanwhile, fielded the ineffective Florian Thauvin, a £13million buy from the French first division during the summer.

Ranieri broke from the acclaim of Vardy to hail Danny Drinkwater’s contribution in midfield but talk soon returned to the history-maker.

‘When I arrived (in the summer) I watched a lot of videos from last season and was impressed how much he pressed the opponents,’ said Ranieri. ‘Whether he scores is not so important to me, but it is to have players who work so hard.

‘He is not the kind of forward who will just stand and wait for the right ball. He will attack the space and press hard and that helps his team-mates. That is why I am so happy with him.’

Everyone, it seems, is happy with Jamie Vardy right now.

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