The Corriere dello Sport unusually devoted Monday's front page not to the latest drama in Serie A but to Claudio Ranieri and Leicester. However, the Italian manager was quick to remind everyone that not so long ago his face was plastered across the front pages of newspapers overseas for all the wrong reasons.
Speaking before Saturday’s home game against West Ham United, when Leicester have the opportunity to extend their lead over Tottenham at the top of the table to 10 points, at least until Spurs visit Stoke on Monday, Ranieri was as keen as ever to play down his team’s title prospects and stop people from getting carried away.
Yet Leicester's story has captured the imagination all over the world, in particular in Ranieri's home country, where images of the 64-year-old fighting back the tears after last Sunday's victory over Sunderland prompted Corriere dello Sport to break with tradition and lead their coverage with the English midlands club.
“It is good,” Ranieri said, smiling. “But a lot of times I have been on the front of Italian newspapers and also on the front of the Greek newspapers.”
The last remark was accompanied with laughter but Ranieri remains fiercely defensive of his brief and calamitous time in charge of Greece, which was brought to an end 18 months ago following a humiliating defeat at home against the Faroe Islands.
“I am the same manager as then,” Ranieri said. “In Greece I worked [with the players] only 15 times in four months. That means three days before every match, without a friendly match, without anything. What can I do? I am not a magician. I am a hard worker.”
Powers of alchemy
Leicester supporters would probably beg to differ and argue that Ranieri has demonstrated his powers of alchemy during a season that has made a mockery of the odds bookmakers were quoting before a ball had been kicked.
Three more wins will be enough to secure the Premier League title, even if Spurs take maximum points from their last five fixtures, yet there is not the slightest hint of tension around the club.
“We are not nervous,” Ranieri said. “We are concentrated, we understand this season. But we have to fight and smile because our job is done: we are safe. This is a miracle. Remember, in the first match Ranieri was first to be sacked and Leicester were first to be relegated. I remember it well.”
Although Leicester are guaranteed a top-four finish, Ranieri claimed that his mind has not turned to the title race because it is still not certain that the Champions League anthem will be played at the King Power Stadium next season.
“What we have now is the [playoffs] of the Champions League – one tie. I want to play six matches,” Ranieri said. “Now we have to be focused on the next thing, and the next thing is the Champions League. It is two matches, and two matches is not the Champions League.
‘Fantastic achievement’
“I don’t think there is the music. I love the music. I think it will be a fantastic achievement [to play in the group phase]. From the dream arrives the reality. But wait!”
In keeping with Leicester's incredible season, Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez and N'Golo Kante were all shortlisted for the PFA Player of the Year award earlier this week. Ranieri was full of praise for that trio but also expressed his wish that every one of his players could be in the running.
“All my players, they are sons for me,” the Leicester manager said. “Shinji, Drinkwater, Albrighton, Simpson and Fuchs – at the beginning they didn’t play – the two central defenders . . . everybody.”
Meanwhile, Mauricio Pochettino, the Tottenham manager, has said that the decision to withdraw Kevin Friend from his duties refereeing his side's game at Stoke City on Monday night was "difficult to understand" and he would have been relaxed about the official taking charge.
Friend, who lives in Leicester and admits to having visited the King Power Stadium as a supporter, does not referee City’s matches and he has been stood down from the game at the Britannia Stadium, given that Tottenham are in direct pursuit of Ranieri’s side at the top.
The Professional Game Match Officials Ltd, who would not normally take secondary factors into consideration, bowed to pressure, largely exerted on social media, and removed the 44-year-old from the fixture. Neil Swarbrick will now oversee the game, with Friend refereeing Newcastle’s match with Manchester City on Tuesday.
“We never complain and I want to say we trust in all the referees,” Pochettino said. “In this moment, because we never complain, it wasn’t our decision. But I think we need to trust. I trust in all the referees and the decision maybe is difficult to understand for all the people. But it wasn’t our decision. If Kevin was the referee on Monday, I was happy.” Guardian Service
