Leicester City winning the Premier League last season was nothing short of a miracle. In today’s game, with the likes of Manchester United, Manchester City, Arsenal, Chelsea and Tottenham Hotspur full of top players and strong financial backing, it didn’t seem possible a club from outside these, could realistically win the title.
Along came Claudio Ranieri and Leicester City. Many fans and pundits criticised the appointment of the Italian, especially following his short spell in charge of the Greek national team, during which time they lost to the Faroe Islands. However, having been written off as relegation candidates, Leicester defied the odds and produced one of the greatest sporting upsets of all time, by winning the Premier League title.
With winning the Premier League, comes automatic entry to the UEFA Champions League, as number one seeds. Thus, Leicester received a very favourable draw in the competition, with FC Porto, Club Brugge and Copenhagen making up Group G. Prior to the match against Copenhagen at the King Power Stadium on match day three, Leicester can look back on a great start to the life in the Champions League, winning matches at Brugge and at home to Porto, possibly their toughest opponents.
However, the same cannot be said for the way Leicester have started the defence of their Premier League title. Leicester sit 13th in the Premier League table and have failed to win any of their last three games in England’s top flight. Another heavy defeat on the weekend, this time at Chelsea, has all but put an end to any chance of retaining their title. With that in mind, it appears Ranieri and his players are going to focus on the Champions League this season.
"In the Premier League we must be safe at the end of the year. The Champions League is now," said Ranieri.
This quote sums up perfectly the thought process at the club. Leicester will be happy to remain in the Premier League this season, currently, there is no ambition of winning it again. However, a win over Copenhagen in the Champions League, will see Leicester needing just one more victory to be sure of making it into the knockout stages of European football’s premier competition. The fact Riyad Mahrez and Islam Slimani were left on the bench at Chelsea on the weekend, is as good a sign as any, that Ranieri is concentrating on Europe. The question is, can they win it?
Realistically, the answer must be no. With the likes of Real Madrid, Barcelona, Bayern Munich and Atletico Madrid all being a step up from the Premier League, it is hard to imagine Leicester defeating any of these teams over two legs. Having said that, if you go back to 2011/12, Chelsea were struggling in the Premier League yet went on to win the Champions League, against Bayern Munich, in the German’s own stadium. Chelsea topped their Champions League group and as a result met Napoli in the Round of 16 and Benfica in the quarter-final. If Leicester were to win their group, they would fancy their chances against anyone from Group B or Group E and once in the quarter-finals, belief starts to grow and look where that took the Foxes last season.
Concentrating on one competition is a dangerous game to play but if Leicester can make it to 12 points in their next two matches, qualification will be secure. Can they go all the way? It’s highly doubtful but then who backed them to win the Premier League last season?