Five years have passed since, on May 2, 2016, Leicester City achieved one of the greatest feats in the history of sport, lifting the 2015/16 Premier League ahead of the English ‘Big Six’ just two years after being promoted to the highest division of British football from the Championship. A five-year period in which practically everything has changed in the East Midlands.
After all, there are Jamie Vardy, Kasper Schmeichel, Marc Albrighton, Christian Fuchs or Wes Morgan, captain of that champion Leicester. The first two remain indisputable, while the third is the 12th player of some ‘foxes’ who, led by Brendan Rodgers, are on their way back to the Champions League and will play the FA Cup final next Saturday May 15 against Chelsea. Fuchs and Morgan, meanwhile, are at 35 and 37 respectively, two veterans with a residual role who continue to contribute their bit in a dressing room with renewed leaders.
James Maddison, Belgian Youri Tielemans and Wilfried Ndidi have taken over from Riyad Mahrez (Manchester City), Danny Drinkawter (Kasimpasa) or Ngolo Kanté (Chelsea), traded for a million after the historic achievement of the Premier League.
Up to four different technicians passed through the King Power Stadium bench since Claudio Ranieri, creator of that legendary team, was cruelly fired in February 2017 until in February 2019 Rodgers took the reins of the fox team to return the illusion to the more than 350,000 residents of the city of Leicester. Craig Shakespeare, Michael Appelton, Claude Puel and Mike Stowell, who was in charge of only one game, coached without pain or glory between a club that did not go beyond ninth place in the three years following their coronation.
Until, with Rodgers, the ‘foxes’ reached fifth place last season, remaining only four points behind Chelsea, fourth, and achieving qualification for this edition of Europe, from which they were dropped in the round of 32 by the surprising Slavia Praga, who in the end was also the executioner of José Mourinho’s Tottenham.
Despite their early European elimination, this season Leicester have once again rubbed shoulders with the giants of English football, once again presenting their candidacy for the Premier League before Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City hit an acceleration of 21 consecutive victories in all competitions that placed him as the outstanding leader of the championship.
With 63 points and four days to go to the end of this Premier, Rodgers’ men are third eight points above -with one more game, yes- of West Ham United, fifth classified and despite the fact that they must face a tough schedule (Newcastle, Manchester United, Chelsea and Tottenham) everything indicates that next season they will once again be among the best 32 teams on the old continent.
As if that were not enough, from the hand of the Carnlough coach, on Saturday May 15, at Wembley and against Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea, Leicester City will choose, five years and thirteen days after his gesture, to lift a new title .
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