FOOTBALL. The Foxes who came out of the blue

So Leicester City, the team that had 5,000-1 odds of winning the English Premier League title, did the unthinkable in the end.

With a seven-point lead with two more matches to go, Tottenham Hotspur, the second placed team, had to win the Monday night encounter against Chelsea at Stamford Bridge to stay in contention. But the match ended in a 2-2 draw, and this after Spurs led 2-0 at half time, keeping the title race alive.

Leicester City had barely avoided relegation last season, when a late run of seven wins in their final nine matches helped them sneak out of the bottom three and finish 14th.

Nigel Pearson, their much-respected manager, was however sacked at the beginning of this season and the Italian Claudio Ranieri was appointed, amidst much disbelief. Ex-Leicester and England great Gary Linekar had famously asked then “Claudio Ranieri, Really?”

Now Ranieri, as all EPL fans would know, is no stranger to English football having managed Chelsea more than 10 years ago before he was replaced by Jose Mourinho, the self appointed “Special One”.

Ranieri, having taken Chelsea to second place in the league and the Champion’s League semi-finals, as well as Juventus and Roma to second place finishes in the Serie A, was known as football’s “almost man” – the bridesmaid but never the bride.

So, this title victory for the 64-year-old Italian must be all the more sweet, as Chelsea imploded spectacularly and Jose Mourinho was sacked mid-season.

Ranieri, also called ‘Tinkerman’, made sure that he didn’t tinker too much this time.

He retained the core of the Leicester team built by Pearson. His one brilliant addition to the team was N’Golo Kante – the mid-field battering ram — from French club Caen. The team – Kasper Schmeichel at the goal; Robert Huth, Wes Morgan, Christian Fuchs and Danny Simpson at the back; Riyad Mahrez, Danny Drinkwater, Marc Albrighton, and N’Golo Kante at midfield; with Shinji Okazaki and Jamie Vardy as attackers – had a brilliant chemistry and enormous hunger to win.

Credit to Ranieri The team gelled wonderfully and for that, all the credit must go to Ranieri. Vardy simply couldn’t stop scoring goals and in the end even his suspension couldn’t stop Leicester from winning the title.

Mahrez was a revelation and deservingly dribbled away with the PFA award for the season.

Leicester City’s title should be a chastening lesson for all those high-spending clubs – Leicester spent just a fraction of what the mighty Manchester United spent in the transfer market.

Ranieri’s success shows that nice guys don’t always finish second. Now that the title has been won, the real challenge of Champion’s League football with Europe’s elite lies ahead. With the expectations raised sky-high, can Leicester replicate this season’s success, will be the question in everyone’s minds.

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