Chelsea 1-1 Leicester City
Man of the match: Nemanja Matic (Chelsea)
It was a fitting fixture to end the greatest season of Claudio Ranieri’s career.
The Leicester City manager watched his side secure a 1-1 draw against former employers Chelsea on Sunday afternoon, capping off a remarkable campaign in which he won his first ever league title in charge of the most unlikely English champions of all-time.
Ranieri was always a popular figure at Stamford Bridge, but his departure in 2004 had come to be inevitable. Roman Abramovich’s takeover of the club the previous summer heightened expectations, and Ranieri’s failure to deliver a piece of silverware meant he was dispensed of in favour of Jose Mourinho after four years at the helm.
It was the Uefa Champions League semi-final in 2003/04 that cost him most. A win over Arsenal in the quarters seemed to have cleared the path for Chelsea, who were part of a relatively weak final-four line-up alongside Porto, Deportivo La Coruna and Monaco.
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The Ligue 1 outfit were Chelsea’s opponents in the semi-final, but Ranieri was unable to mastermind a victory over two legs. Some fateful errors were made in the first meeting, the Italian guilty of making a series of bizarre alterations that led to his team suffering a 3-1 loss against 10-man opposition.
That deficit proved insurmountable, and Monaco went through to face Mourinho’s Porto in the final after a 2-2 draw in London two weeks later.
The episode demonstrated why Ranieri had come to be known as the Tinkerman, a moniker he has since shaken off with his settled starting line-ups and subtle tactical adjustments at Leicester this term.
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Despite that missed opportunity in 2004 and the lack of a trophy throughout his time at Chelsea, the jovial and gentlemanly Ranieri has always been held in high regard by the club's fans, so much so that his name echoed around Stamford Bridge after Chelsea indirectly won Leicester the title by holding Tottenham Hotspur to a 2-2 draw earlier this month.
All four corners of the ground rose to applaud Ranieri when Chelsea made a special presentation to their former boss prior to kick-off, while the home side’s starting XI also formed a guard of honour to welcome the new kings of English football onto the pitch.
The match that followed was rather flat for long periods, neither team overly exerting themselves when there was nothing left to play for.
Kasper Schmeichel was called into action on a number of occasions in the first period and Leicester had a few chances of their own, but the lack of intensity on display said everything about both sides’ situations on the final day.
Things did liven up a touch after the interval, Cesc Fabregas opening the scoring from the penalty spot after Nemanja Matic was felled by Jeff Schlupp, before Danny Drinkwater levelled the scores with a low drive from 30 yards to add yet another point to Leicester’s extraordinary tally.
“The emotion was at the maximum because there was a fantastic welcome back from everybody – the owner, our fans, Chelsea fans,” Ranieri said in his post-match press conference.
“The match was open, it was very hard to play fast. I’m very pleased with our performance and I’m very pleased with our character.
“Now we fly to Thailand [for a post-season tour] on Tuesday. After, we have a break, and then I can realise what happened this season. Maybe.”
A 10th-place finish makes this Chelsea’s worst campaign in two decades, and one they will be delighted to consign to the history books and never speak of again.
Leicester and Ranieri, on the other hand, will cherish the 2015/16 Premier League season forever. For both manager and club, things have never been better.
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