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The Foxes forward rioted at the Etihad Stadium when Pep Guardiola’s hopes of retaining the Premier League title were dashed.
Only two players have scored a hat-trick against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City.
One of them is Lionel Messi.
The other is Jamie Vardy, and now he’s done it twice.
The Leicester City forward knows exactly how to expose the flaws in Guardiola’s high-risk philosophy, and he did it again in another superb solo performance at the Etihad Stadium.
If new signing Rubén Dias did not know before, he will if he saw City’s performance on Sunday: there is no hiding place in Guardiola’s defense.
The Benfica defender should end City’s protracted search for a strong right central this week after appearing to bid farewell to teammates on Saturday.
But you will have been in cold sweats if you saw the way that City’s bottom line was exposed in their surprising 5-2 loss to the Foxes which has given Liverpool an early lead in the race for the Premier League title.
At least for Dias he won’t have to face Vardy until next year.
The former England international has found the net eight times against City since Guardiola took over at Etihad, and here he scored with each of his three goal attempts, including two from the penalty spot after winning them himself.
Even Guardiola knows that Vardy is the perfect striker to expose the weaknesses of his strategy. “We played 40 meters ahead, so it’s perfect for him,” Guardiola admitted last February.
More than six months later and nothing has changed.
There’s no big secret in the way teams have figured out how to beat City: defend in numbers and then attack with speed.
It’s the same style of rope that Arsenal used so effectively in last season’s FA Cup semi-final and Lyon in the Champions League six weeks ago.
City dominated early possession here against Brendan Rodgers’ team, but there were warning signs when lightning bolts from Vardy, Harvey Barnes and Dennis Praet threatened to catch them at halftime.
With John Stones missing again for not being in tip-top shape, teenager Eric Garcia, unwilling to sign a contract extension amid Barcelona’s interest, was left with the task of trying to stop Vardy.
The young Spanish international was innocent of Vardy’s first penalty after Kyle Walker was caught on the wrong side of the forward and knocked him down unnecessarily.
Vardy’s second, meanwhile, was due to his sharpness as he edged past Garcia on the center of Timothy Castagne and launched a clever shot past Ederson.
He then completed his hat-trick against after receiving an awkward challenge from Garcia and hitting him from the spot.
Substitute James Maddison scored the goal selection with an impressive 25-yard shot for the fourth, but it was Vardy who did the damage.
And how City clamored for a striker with his intelligence and cruelty after the first 30 minutes in which he dominated possession after taking the lead with a thunderous shot from Riyad Mahrez in the third minute.
But with injured pair Sergio Agüero and Gabriel Jesus among the seven missing senior players, Guardiola has no options.
Raheem Sterling had no impact as a center forward and by the time 17-year-old Liam Delap got his bearings after being introduced from the bench, the game was over, although the rookie did a head loop against the crossbar.
After Vardy was replaced, there was still time for the impressive Youri Tielemans to score a fifth goal from the spot, as Leciester became the first team to score five away goals against City in 20 years, and the first in the story against a Guardiola team.
Guardiola blamed problems at both ends for the lack of a title defense last season. Those issues persist, and so is the threat of another early finish to their Premier League challenge.
