Ranieri: We must play like matadors
FroM the frying pan of Millwall’s Den, Leicester move to the fire of seville, and if the Premier League champions wilt as they have done at home recently, it promises to be a chastening occasion.
as usual, Claudio ranieri found another perspective. ‘It could be the turning point, it could be everything,’ said the Leicester manager. ‘We can lose, it’s oK, nothing happens. But if we win, if we do a very good game, something inside could change. We need one match like this.
‘We play without the pressure of the Premier League, we play light. for this reason I hope we can show our football. They are better than us, but we will fight.’
seville is home to La Maestranza, the oldest bullring in spain, and ranieri was asked which role his team might occupy at the Estadio ramon sanchez Pizjuan: matador or bull?
‘Will I have the balls?’ ranieri said, chuckling at his deliberate misinterpretation. ‘I want the matadors,’ he returned, seriously. ‘I want the gladiators, I want the soldiers, I want my players.’
Everybody who got wrapped up in Leicester’s story last season would like those players back and ranieri is expected to start with most of those heroes. Wilfred Ndidi in for the departed N’Golo Kante could be the only change to the fabled XI of 2015-16.
riyad Mahrez, Danny Drinkwater, Wes Morgan, robert Huth and Kasper schmeichel are set to return after being rested for the 1-0 fa Cup defeat by Millwall.
Jamie Vardy, who came off the bench at The Den, is ready to begin the game. Islam slimani’s injury gives a chance to shinji okazaki. Whether those players can reclaim the form that brought them to this point is moot.
ranieri’s position has come under scrutiny during a run of five Premier League losses that have seen Leicester slip to one point above the relegation zone. of equal alarm is their inability to score. They last did so in the top flight on New Year’s Eve. sevilla manager Jorge sampaoli backed ranieri, saying: ‘someone who has achieved something so amazing should have the right to try to do the same this year.’
ranieri, meanwhile, revealed he rejected opportunities to walk away last summer. Sportsmail understands the Italian football federation and Chinese clubs tried to lure him.
asked whether he had earned the right to decide when he goes, ranieri replied: ‘I could have left last season. Nobody could have said anything — I won the title. But I wanted to stay because I knew it was a difficult year. I came here to build something good for Leicester and I’ll keep going. I’ve forgotten the title.’
Vardy rejected arsenal last summer and has scored only six club goals all season. He last found the net against Manchester City on December 10. ‘We know we all have to work harder,’ he said. ‘Do that and chances will come. You will always get criticism. I blank it out and focus on what’s important, which is getting away from the situation we are in.’
ranieri has fond memories of seville, winning the 1999 spanish Cup with Valencia in the city, but sampaoli’s side have turned their ground into a fortress, with only Barcelona and Juventus winning there this season.
sevilla beat real Madrid at home last month and sit third in La Liga, although their manager is banned from the touchline tonight after being sent off by English referee Mark Clattenburg in the group-stage defeat by Juve.