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Leicester City is Forrest Gump: Check out Claudio Ranieri's best quotes from the season

“This is not a footballer. This is a fantastic horse.” - Claudio Ranieri

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Harking back to a previous era and ripping up a text book full of received wisdom, Leicester City's remarkable title triumph has been founded on a footballing philosophy that many had consigned to the dustbin. The statistics of a stunning campaign tell an astonishing tale of how Leicester have turned the clock back by shunning possession and glorying in the long ball to a pacey striker, while spurning rotation in favour of a settled, almost self-selecting side.

Leicester have played more long balls than almost any team in Europe, their average possession is one of the lowest in the Premier League and they have started fewer players over the campaign than any of their title rivals. To many eyes, it is a simple formula for success and one that was common among English sides in the 1980s, yet Leicester's approach had been almost discarded from the modern game. In an era of European football dominated by Barcelona, who guard the ball with an almost infinite zeal and rarely pass further than the nearest team mate, Leicester have shown that being direct need not be a relic of a bygone age.

To celebrate Leicester champions, we look back on the some of the most entertaining things Claudio Raineri said during the season.

“I told them, if you keep a clean sheet, I’ll buy pizza for everybody. I think they’re waiting for me to offer a hot dog too.”

Claudio Ranieri offers his players pizza if they can keep their first clean sheet. When asked if it was an unhealthy diet, he said it was loaded with carbohydrates which was good for muscles.

“I pay for pizza, you pay for the sausage. I am the sausageman.”

Claudio Ranieri was bemused when a Leicester butcher – W Archer & Son – created a sausage in his honour.

“From the beginning when something was wrong I’ve been saying: ‘Dilly-ding, dilly-dong, wake up, wake up!’ So on Christmas Day I bought for all the players and all the staff a little bell. It was just a joke.”

The Italian is famous for his bells comparison and had actually given the squad bells as Christmas presents, to remind them not to slip up .

“This is not a footballer. This is a fantastic horse.”

Ranieri goes the animal way to describe Jamie Vardy.

 “Yes, big revenge… I want to kill him! No, he’s a nice man. It’s just football.”

Ranieri takes a comic turn to describe a match against Watford which was managed by Quique Sanchez Flores who had replaced him at Valencia.

“Why can’t we continue to run, run, run? We are like Forrest Gump. Leicester is Forrest Gump. I give you the headline there.”

Ranieri compares his side to Tom Hanks’ Forrest Gump.

 “I say my team is like the RAF, it’s fantastic – whoosh whoosh! – I love it.”

After Marc Albrighton, Jamie Vardy and Jeff Schlupp are named three of the fastest players in the Premier League, Ranieri compares them to the Royal Air Force.

“It’s fantastic when you see before the match, an old lady with a Leicester shirt outside the stadium. I say: ‘Unbelievable. They come from Leicester to support us.’ This is my emotion.”

Ranieri hails Leicester’s support after they beat Sunderland to go 10 points clear.

“Now we go straight away to try to win the title. We are in the Champions League, dilly ding, dilly dong – come on. We are in the Champions League, it is fantastic, terrific. Well done to everybody.”

After months denying that Leicester could win the title, Rainieri finally admits that the title might be a probability.

 

 

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