Claudio Ranieri on Leicester City’s title win: 'I’m the same man who was sacked by Greece!'

Richard Parry3 May 2016

Claudio Ranieri mused that he is still the ‘same man who was fired by Greece’ after guiding Leicester City to top of English football.

Tottenham's failure to win at Chelsea - one of Ranieri's former clubs - saw Leicester crowned as Premier League champions with two games of the season to go, despite being 5,000/1 outsiders at the start of the campaign.

Ranieri had returned to Italy to spend time with his mother following the Foxes 1-1 draw at Manchester United on Saturday, while his squad watched the Spurs match on TV round striker Jamie Vardy’s house.

It wasn’t long before a video emerged of jubilant scenes at casa Vardy, and Ranieri could not hide delight when quizzed on the greatest achievement of his career.

"I'm so proud. I'm happy for my players, for the chairman, for the staff at Leicester City, all our fans and the Leicester community. It's an amazing feeling and I'm so happy for everyone," he said.

"I never expected this when I arrived. I'm a pragmatic man, I just wanted to win match after match and help my players to improve week after week. Never did I think too much about where it would take us.

"The players have been fantastic. Their focus, their determination, their spirit has made this possible. Every game they fight for each other and I love to see this in my players. They deserve to be champions."

Leicester’s title success not only represents one of sport’s greatest fairy-tale stories, but also caps a remarkable turnaround for the Italian manager.

Five games that guided Leicester to the title

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Having been dismissed as the Greece national coach in November 2014, his arrival at the King Power Stadium was greeted by widespread ridicule in the press.

295 days later, he guided his side to the Premier League title.

"I am 64 years old, I've been fighting for a long time, but I was always positive and had positivity on my side," Ranieri told Italian broadcaster Rai 3.

"I always thought that I'd end up winning a league title somewhere eventually. I am the same man who was fired by Greece, perhaps someone there had forgotten about my career.

"It's not as if anyone will forget, but I like to point out I am the same man who was on the Greece bench. I haven't changed.

How the European papers reported on Leicester's title success

"I am staying at Leicester,” he continued. “This is a year that cannot be repeated, next year we'll try to fight for a top-10 place, hopefully. We must continue to grow and to do well."

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