The Italian coach was fired and left Chelsea with the sneering words "don't know when we will win the championship". But yesterday, he returned here as the new champion of the Premier League.
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| Chelsea was the first English club that Claudio Ranieri worked for, for four seasons (2000-2004). Despite his many achievements, he had to leave in the summer of 2004 because he was considered incapable of meeting the ambitions of billionaire Roman Abramovich. But yesterday, the Italian coach returned as a winner. |
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| Nearly 42,000 fans present at Stamford Bridge all stood up, not only for them and the Chelsea players to perform the traditional Premier League ritual of welcoming the new champion, but also to give a round of applause to the familiar face of the past. |
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| Ranieri agreed to return to England to lead Leicester last summer, at a time when the team was struggling to stay in the Premier League. With resources considered below average, the Italian coach and Leicester took the football world from one surprise to another, then wrote a fairy tale when they won the Premier League title. |
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| Ranieri received a congratulatory hug from his Chelsea colleague, Guus Hiddink. The Dutch coach recently said that before choosing Ranieri, Leicester contacted him but he refused. Hiddink agreed to return to Chelsea in the middle of the season in an interim role, after Mourinho was fired, helping the team stop the crisis. However, Hiddink's efforts were not enough to save Chelsea from a disastrous season, empty-handed on all fronts, the worst ever in the Abramovich era. |
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| Ranieri took the opportunity to sign autographs for some fans. The Italian coach has been away from Stamford Bridge for 12 years, but he still receives a lot of affection from Chelsea fans. |
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| Leicester's manager was also happy to see his former student John Terry again. The veteran English midfielder matured significantly during his four years working with Ranieri and was appointed captain of the team from this period. Terry was not able to play yesterday due to suspension. He will likely leave Chelsea this summer because his contract expires. |
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| Another former student of Ranieri's at Chelsea, former goalkeeper Carlo Cudicini, presented the Italian coach with a souvenir on behalf of the home team. |
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| Ranieri's Leicester started the match slowly and was pressured by Chelsea. It was not until the first half that the new champions got into the swing of things. Chelsea opened the scoring in the 65th minute thanks to a Cesc Fabregas penalty, but with some adjustments in Ranieri's style of play, Leicester were able to equalize 1-1 after Danny Drinkwater's beautiful long-range shot in the 81st minute. |
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| Thanks to this result, Leicester have 12 consecutive matches unbeaten in the Premier League (since the 1-2 loss at Arsenal in round 26). Ranieri's team not only experienced the longest unbeaten streak in their Premier League history, but also ended the magical season by leaving second-place Arsenal 10 points behind. |
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| After the match, Leicester fans at Stamford Bridge continuously gave Ranieri a standing ovation. They also showed their pride, singing: "What happened today shows why Leicester are champions." |
According to VNE
