Still picking up awards for his incredible feat of guiding Leicester City to an unlikely Premier League trophy, Claudio Ranieri spoke to FIFA.com after being named “The Best – FIFA Manager in Men’s Football”.
Focusing on his achievement with the Foxes, the manager touched on a variety of factors that led to Jamie Vardy and co. to lift the trophy at the end of the season, and a recurring theme was luck.
He said: “You need it all the time. You can work really hard, do everything perfectly, but without luck… Of course, I’m not saying sit under a tree and shout ‘Luck, come to me..’ If you want it, you have to fight for it.”
The Leicester manager admitted the main reason his side were able to finish ten points clear of second placed Arsenal come the end of the season was that ‘none of the big teams were at their best’.
With his team currently 15th in the Premier League and currently 2500/1 to lift the title again, what has changed?
According to Ranieri, it’s luck, again: “Last year, our opponents wasted a lot of chances. This year, they’re all in the back of the net. There’s also the fact that maybe we’re not as focused on the Premier League as we were last year. We thought we’d be able to lift our heads after each loss, but that isn’t the case.”
Also in the Champions League, a competition they have done very well in so far, the 65-year-old played down his side’s chances of pulling off yet another incredible achievement, but this time in the European competition: “No. Last year, Leicester showed anything is possible, but… but you have to be serious (laughs)”.
As for whether another club will be able to pull of a similar feat elsewhere in Europe, Ranieri reckons we might have to wait another 50 years.
Why? “Because today, money buys you the best players, and, in the end, the team with the best team has the best chance of winning. That’s reality.”
