Issue link: https://maltatoday.uberflip.com/i/674824
maltatoday, WEDNESDAY, 4 MAY 2016 20 "NOW I can say it, I always knew we'd win," Ranieri told Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano the day after Leicester's triumph. He said he had always denied any championship ambitions until al- most the end of the season because "that's the way I am made, I have al- ways preferred doing things rather than talking about them". Asked to pinpoint when he really became convinced Leicester could win, he said: "It was at Christmas. Relegation had been avoided and we gathered together to talk in the changing rooms and we said to each other, 'Let's go for it, we've got nothing to lose'." Ranieri played down his own role in the achievement, saying that teamwork was key to the club's suc- cess and his players had no shortage of ability. "I don't think it's possible to win without the essential qualities, and the team that I led had all the essen- tial qualities." While Ranieri was keen to credit his team, the Italian coach was lauded in his own country. "King Claudio!" was the front page headline in La Gazzetta dello Sport, Italy's main sports daily, above a mock up picture of Ranieri which made him look like a Roman emperor. The country's largest circulation newspapers Corriere della Sera and la Repubblica also carried front page stories with the same "King of England" headline. Prime Minister Matteo Renzi tweeted: "The greatest achievement in the history of English soccer was led by an Italian. Fantastic Mr Ra- nieri." In Testaccio, the working class district of Rome where Ranieri grew up, the local AS Roma sup- porters' club sported a banner outside reading "Champions of England, Great Claudio." Photographs inside showed Rani- eri when he was a player for Roma and standing next to his star player Francesco Totti when he managed the club. "He is a great man, a serious man who came up from nothing," said pensioner Annamaria Caroni, who said she could remember Ranieri's late father, who had been the local butcher. Sport SPORTTODAY FOOTBALL Leicester City coach Claudio Ranieri said on Tuesday that he believed at Christmas his team would win the Premier League, even as he continued to tell the media his only goal was avoiding relegation Leicester's Thai owners vow to keep winning team together I knew at Christmas that Leicester would win title - Ranieri THE owners of English foot- ball champions Leicester City say they will resist attempts by more glamorous rivals to lure away their title-winning play- ers, after an unlikely triumph that has captured the imagina- tion of fans worldwide. Duty-free magnate Vichai Sri- vaddhanaprabha became the first Thai owner of an English Premier League title-winning team on Monday night, when the only club capable of catch- ing them, Tottenham Hotspur, were held to a 2-2 draw by Chel- sea. Leicester's journey from 5,000-1 outsiders to English champions has captivated foot- ball lovers every where, but also prompted predictions that the team could be broken up in the off-season as bigger clubs look to poach their best players. "We are not the team that will sell players for money," said Ai- yawatt Srivaddhanaprabha, the club's vice chairman and Vi- chai 's son, in comments report- ed by Thai website Manager. "So, I can confirm that we will keep all major players with the team, such as Jamie Vardy, Ri- yad Mahrez, N'Golo Kante or Kasper Schmeichel." Next season, in addition to defending their Premier League title, Leicester - who were play- ing in the second tier of English football when Vichai 's King Power Group took over in 2010 - will compete in UEFA's lucrative Champions League. At least one prominent sup- porter, a Thai monk who has regularly blessed the team dur- ing their astonishing rise, be- lieves they will have few prob- lems taking on the giants of European football. "I believe the power of Bud- dhism... given through the Bud- dhist monk and executives has created teamwork and unity in the team," Phra Promman- gkalachan told Reuters TV. "With their clear minds, it has brought concentration, ability, and determination for them to go to the international arena. At the moment, they will be able to thrive any way because of their strong minds and they will continue to win on the interna- tional stage." Vichai is a regular devotee of Phra, the 63-year-old assis- tant to the abbot of Bangkok 's Traimitr Temple, and took him to Britain to bless the stadium and the team. Claudio Ranieri is a very happy man Leicester City owner Vichai Raksriaksorn arrives at the training ground