The England international opened the scoring in the Citizens' 2-0 win over the Foxes, giving their Champions League ambitions a major boost.
His performance came at the perfect time, easing the pressure from the wave of criticism over his contributions to the Etihad giants since joining from Aston Villa.
“I wanted the chance to play,” Grealish told City website. “I’ve only started in the FA Cup in 2025. As you can imagine I was devastated to not play on the weekend as I’d played in every other round.
“So I was so disappointed but I came on and I feel like I played well. I feel like I deserved to play tonight. I was just happy.
“I think this season I’ve not been at my best, even last season. But I feel like even when I’ve played, especially in 2025, I’ve only started three or four games, I’ve not started in the Premier League since before Christmas. But yeah, I was happy that I started tonight and happy to score.
“I know myself that I could score more but I know I give a lot more than just scoring. My highest ever tally in goals is about eight in a season.
“I was never brought here to score 20 or 30 goals a season. I think even when I was at Villa the year before I was brought here I scored six goals.”