A phenomenal story is about to be realised. Will it happen at the Theatre of Dreams today? LEICESTER ONE WIN AWAY FROM HISTORY

Unbelievable buzz in the city. There are blue items just about everywhere

A COLLECTIVE euphoria has gripped Leicester’s humdrum streets as the oftenoverlooked English city stands at the cusp of achieving global sporting immortality by winning football’s most coveted league title.

Many in the medium-sized Midlands city will not talk about the possibility of one of sporting history’s most unlikely triumphs for fear of jinxing their heroes.

“If you look at all the fans, the people, the city, it’s an incredible, incredible time,” said Ian Smith, while readjusting his Leicester City scarf. “It means the world to them. A once-in-a-lifetime experience.”

But the impossible dream will become a reality if the Foxes win at Manchester United today.

The club, which started the season as one of the relegation favourites and 5 000-1 shots to finish top, would still have two more matches to seal arguably the most unlikely league title in English football history if they were to lose at Old Trafford.

They play Everton at home next and end the season against champions Chelsea.

Tottenham Hotspur, the only team who can deny the Midlands club the title, lost ground with a 1-1 draw at home to West Bromwich Albion on Monday that meant they were seven points behind with three games left to play.

For a city instilled with restraint and discretion, the current emotional eruption is unprecedented. “It’s an unbelievable buzz everywhere, there are blue items just everywhere,” said Anna Hulewicz-Brown, adding that the city was almost unrecognisable from the one where she had spent her whole life.

The temperature ramped up a notch on Friday when the city’s landmarks and houses were illuminated and draped in blue until the end of the season.

Fans nervous about today’s match will be able to calm their nerves in the city’s pubs with a “Vardy bomb”, a cocktail invented in honour of star striker Jamie Vardy.

Others are seeking divine intervention, with a city centre street preacher now using football to begin his sermon while singing the praises of “Saint Vardy”.

“There’s still work to do but, in most people’s eyes, it is done and dusted,” former Leicester defender Matt Elliott told BBC’s Radio Five. “Leicester can win the title at Old Trafford. I’m covering it on the radio and there are three of us going up in the car. If they win, it won’t be me driving home.”

This season has seen the Midlands club leave established premiership giants well behind them.

Owned by Thai billionaire Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha, Leicester have already qualified for the Champions League for the first time in a season where only the three promoted clubs — Watford, Norwich City and Bournemouth — started at longer odds to win the Premier League.

Manager Claudio Ranieri was derided as the “Tinkerman” when he first made his name in English football as Chelsea boss from 2000 until 2004.

But under the Italian’s guidance the likes of Algeria winger Riyad Mahrez, named last week as the Professional Footballers’ Association Player of the Year, and the team’s leading goal scorer, Vardy, have enjoyed the best seasons of their careers, with the Foxes all-action game proving hard to resist in a campaign where they have lost just three league games.

When Leicester appointed Ranieri, lifelong Foxes fan and former England striker Gary Lineker, who started his career with his hometown club, tweeted: “Claudio Ranieri, really?” He subsequently admitted: “Oh how wrong I was, how wonderfully, spectacularly, blissfully wrong.”

The only downside for Leicester’s bestknown supporter is that it looks as if he may have to make good on a promise to present the BBC’s flagship Match of the Day football programme in his underpants if the Foxes win the title.

“I’ve kind of said I’ll have to do it,” Lineker told the Radio Times magazine. I’ve told them many times, ‘Please tell me I can’t do it’. “When I sent the tweet in December I categorically knew there was zero chance that [Leicester] would win.”

Leicester will be without Vardy at Old Trafford after the Football Association gave him an additional one-match ban on Tuesday for improper conduct following his red card against West Ham.

But they were without the England forward last weekend as well and still beat Swansea City 4-0. CLAUDIO Ranieri has already secured legend status in the city.

But the extent to which Leicester fans have taken the 64-year-old to their hearts has been wonderfully illustrated in a new tribute video to the Italian manager.

He has resoundingly silenced his critics who doubted his Premier League credentials. Now, Ranieri is regarded as the adopted son of Leicester, with plans in place to honour his contribution to the town by naming a road after him.

In a heart-warming video, fans across the city are asked to say a few words in tribute to Ranieri’s impressive campaign.

Before it is played, Ranieri squirms at the prospect of being shown footage from fans: “I hope they say good things!”

But the outpouring of goodwill for Ranieri leaves him visibly moved at points throughout the video.

One elderly woman’s tribute looks to visibly move Ranieri as she thanks the Italian for “everything you’ve done for Leicester City Football Club”.

Another fan said: “We’ve never seen anything like this before, it’s incredible.”

“Thank you so much. Wonderful,” said Ranieri after watching the video. “I make this job because I’m very, very happy when the fans and people at the club are happy.

“All my sacrifice is this, and I love this. And please, give me this video. I want it!” — © The Daily Telegraph, London and AFP CHIEF INVESTOR: Thai billionaire and Leicester owner Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha claimed following the club’s promotion to the Premier League in 2014 that he would spend £180-million to break into the top five within three years. His team has achieved the feat in just two years with less than a third of his planned budget