Memorable moments: how Leicester went on to win the Premier League title

Premier League football’s fox tale of the 2015/16 season proved once again that paper assumptions and million-dollar signings aren’t everything. The Claudio Ranieri-led squad made the unthinkable a reality and strolled to the league title after an amazing run.

Back in the 2013/14 season, Leicester were still reigning supreme on Championship pitches. In January, he brought the then unknown Algerian Riyad Mahrez into his ranks for a now ridiculous €500,000 from French side Le Havre. He dominated the second highest competition in England with a nine-point lead over second-placed Burnley and could enjoy himself among the English league’s elite.

Newcomers in the Premier League

In their first season in the PL, under the tutelage of Nigel Pearson, they finished a solid 14th for a newcomer and made plans for a second season among the elite, when the euphoria often wears off for promoted teams and performance drops noticeably.

Even Leicester had no idea how crucial the purchase of the derisory N’gol Kanté, for whom they sent €9m to SM Caen, would be. Equally important was the engagement of the experienced coach Claudio Ranieri, who had previously tried his hand at the helm of Chelsea, Juventus and Atlético Madrid.

Measuring up with the best

The start of the competition has already been great for the Foxes and they suffered their first defeat at the hands of Arsenal in round 7. The team from the King Power Stadium went on and measured up against the teams standardly ranked in the so-called Top 6.

Ranieri’s squad drew with Manchester United, beat title defending Chelsea and left with their heads down again after the duel at Anfield over the Christmas holidays. They drew at home to a buoyant Citizens and then plundered White Hart Lane.

They avenged the defeat to Jürgen Klopp’s charges and outplayed Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium. The Gunners beat the Foxes for a second time, but the Valentine’s Day defeat by Arsene Wenger’s charges was the last one the resilient Foxes had to swallow.

Then, when Chelsea drew 2-2 with Tottenham at Stamford Bridge in Round 36, a frenzied celebration of a fairytale Premier League title could have erupted as the Foxes watched on. The first PL championship in the club’s history and the first Champions League appearance to go with it.

The ubiquitous Kanté

The way N’golo Kanté has adapted to the faster and tougher game in England is fascinating, not least when you look at the usual height of shield midfielders. Not everyone is as tall as Sergio Busquets, or as massive as Casemiro, but few really measure 168 centimetres (just for comparison, Leo Messi is 169 cm).

Despite this, the Paris native has shown speed, start on the ball, excellent reading of the game and great timing of defensive interventions. This is why Kanté looks like he is everywhere on the pitch and can’t be got rid of. His performances have been one of the cornerstones of Ranieri’s foxy success.

Mahrez the Wizard

Apart from the mainstay in goal Kasper Schmeichel, Leicester then had two other mainstays, Riyad Mahrez and Jamie Vardy. The former winger was unstoppable. And again, like with Katné, many might question his ability to make it in England because of his not-so-muscular physique.

Mahrez, however, proved that nimble feet and a clever head are far more important than muscle and repeatedly greased the bread of the best defenders in the competition, as when he magically worked a centre from Marc Albrighton in the home game against Chelsea, took a few hints, danced in front of Cesar Azpilicueta and then simply curled the ball with his left foot to the far post of Curtois’ goal.

In the post-match press conference, the Blues coach raged that he had warned his players about Mahrez several times. Mahrez was making magic, creating, setting up cribs, putting in footers and was the absolute definition of a football entertainer. The skilful left-back also took home the PFA Player of the Year award after the season, voted for by the players themselves.

Goal machine Vardy

Vardy has been at East Midlands since the summer of 2012 and is still kicking in the blue jersey today. Teamed up with Mahrez, he has turned into a goal-hungry beast. And for most of the season, the combination of Coffee and Red Bull’s goal-scoring speedster has indulged himself in a big way.

What’s more, they were often shots that would pass the highest standards, as in the February home game against Liverpool. Mahrez sent a long strip of air on the run to Vardy, who allowed the ball to bounce once and, under Dejan Lovren’s supervision, fired the missile from an angle under the crossbar of Mignolet’s shrine.

Besides, he became the first player in Premier League history to score in eleven consecutive duels. It is this record of Vardy’s that is the most eloquent depiction of how sovereignly and with grace Leicester took the league by storm.

A fox tale

The team around captain Wes Morgan did something that may be talked about for a long time to come. He burnt the bookies’ pond and, with odds of 5000 to 1 on the title, made one Foxes fan the happiest man in the world.

In short, Ranieri put the pieces together as accurately as he could, including not-so-heralded players like Okazaki, Drinkwater, Simpson, Huth or just Morgan. They all pulled together and tore apart everything football pundits and experts around the world thought they knew about the Premier League.

It was no surprise when soon the axis of the team including Kanté, Mahrez and Schmeichel gradually dispersed to other teams. Vardy, however, remained loyal as one of the stars of the 15/16 season and has been lurking at the King Power Stadium in the current season.

Sources: Transfermarkt, Livesport