Can Leicester win the Champions League?

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  • The impossible *recurrent* dream?

    It’s safe to say that Leicester City are no strangers to the impossible. In fact, given their hugely disappointing Premier League title defence this season, they’re probably inviting the distraction.

    After raising the bar for themselves and falling woefully short, they’re now in a position to overachieve again.

    The Foxes are in a relegation dogfight and are hardly the favourites to emerge from it in one piece but they’ll accept that the odds are against them and try to defy them anyway.

    Meanwhile, they have their sights on another fairytale ending this season, this time in Europe.

    Leicester beat Sevilla 2-0 at the Liberty Stadium on Tuesday night to win 3-2 on aggregate and, against all odds, progress to the quarter-finals of the prestigious tournament.

    Whether or not they could actually go all the way is an intriguing question. And here are a few points that suggest, with a whole lot of good fortune, they just might be capable.

    BACK TO BASICS

    Claudio Ranieri’s dismissal in January was greeted with shock and a fair bit of resentment given the manager’s incredible accomplishment last season. However, since Craig Shakespeare has taken charge, the team has reverted to type and it’s worked wonders for them.

    Everyone suggested that Ranieri couldn’t possibly maintain a winning formula this season by sticking to his tried and tested line-up and system. But new names like Ahmed Musa and Islam Slimani haven’t made much of an impact.

    Shakespeare has gone back to the title-winning XI, apart from N’Golo Kante of course, and they’ve started to look more like their old selves, relying heavily on the counter-attack. Indeed against Sevilla, they only had 29% of possession but broke swiftly and registered more shots than the visitors (13 to 11).

    PRECEDENT

    FC Porto making the finals in the 2004 edition of the competition was as big a shock as any but they perhaps did get the rub of the green in terms of fixtures in the knockout stages. More pertinent to Leicester’s situation is Chelsea’s triumph in 2012.

    Following Andre Villas-Boas’ dismissal, Roberto Di Matteo led an average Chelsea side to European glory, beating Napoli, Benfica and the mighty Barcelona on their way to the final where they upset Bayern Munich.

    Chelsea had then adopted a counter-attacking strategy out of necessity than anything else but Leicester are a team well-versed in playing the underdogs and pouncing on opportunities on the break.

    RIGHT UP THEIR ALLEY

    To put it quite simply, prospect of Leicester winning the Champions League this season is ludicrous. Fortunately for them, that’s right up their alley.

    They’ve almost seemed unsettled by their ‘champions’ tag in the Premier League this season, longing instead for their status as a band of spirited misfits, which they have apparently recouped of late.

    With their backs against the wall and naysayers doubting them at every turn, this is where Leicester are in their element. Given the events of last season, what Leicester also possess is belief. Bold, irrational and ultimately invigorating belief.

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