I have seen football miracles: when Denmark won the Euro 1992; when Liverpool came back to defeat AC Milan in the 2005 Champions League final, or when hapless Herfolge won the Danish League in 2000.
But nothing compares to what we have been witness to this season: Leicester City winning the Premier League title!
Today it happened: after Leicester managed a good fight in a 1-1 away tie to mighty Manchester United, Tottenham seemed to continue on their tails as they were 0-2 up against last year's champions Chelsea. But Gary Cahill and Eden Hazard may get special awards in Leicester as they made it 2-2, to give Leicester the title with two matches to spare (and on the last match day they will play Chelsea).
You have to be stupid not to understand how big this is: a team with a roster of 24 million Euros (where the big clubs pay that amount for one player) had a now famous 5000-1 odds against them at the start of the season; odds were more likely that Elvis would be found alive (2500-1), or that Simon Cowell would become British Prime Minister (500-1).
Leicester have been good on all fronts: a solid team combining defensive experience (Roberth Huth, Christian Huth and Wes Morgan are all old experienced players), a wonderfully talented midfield of players discovered this season (Danny Drinkwater, Riyad Mahrez and N'golo Kante), as well as the late-bloomer Jamie Vardy up front.
And my apologies to Claudio Ranieri: a coach I have strongly criticised and never been a fan of. But what he has done here will go over in history.
It has been impossible not to love Leicester City, but also because it is one of those rarities in the modern world (and not just in football): they have brought people together. Leicester is a multi-cultural city, and this is also seen in a team that, above all, has shown great unity among players from all over the world: England, France, Ghana, Algeria, Jamaica, Argentina, Germany, Denmark, Japan. And the manager is Italian and the Chairman is Thai.
Leicester City has reminded us all why football is great, and that we should all be thankful for.
No comments:
Post a Comment