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The Champions League, in keeping with its name, was the arena of champions. Although later Leicester City won the Premier League, whether the Champions League is also a suitable habitat for them?
A year ago, it seemed nobody on Earth who think there will be a new England representatives in the Champions League. While talking about Champions League, the thinkable name is Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, and Arsenal. Other teams predicted can penetrate to the big four are Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur, who already have experience in the Champions League.
Why Leicester? Why not Stoke City, which looks more promising due to buying up popular players early in the season,? Or Southampton, which impresses under the direction of Ronald Koeman?
But, the fact of the new England representatives in the Champions League is Leicester. Yes, Leicester who a year ago was still giddy escape from bondage. Leicester last season became the caretaker Premier League. Leicester, who had previously, had a habitat on the bottom along with other mediocre teams like Sunderland, Norwich City, and Bournemouth.
The presence of Claudio Ranieri apparently changed everything. Although much underrated when appointed a substitute for Nigel Pearson, the Italian has suddenly become as a necromancer that tear apart the big teams in the Premier League.
Ranieri was actually given a simple task by the boss of Leicester, Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha. He just had to make sure his team doesn't lose its status as an occupant of the Premier League. That is, as long as Leicester were not degraded, the Ranieri's position as a Manager is still relatively safe.
"I remember the first meeting with the chairman when I arrived at Leicester City. He sat down with me and said, ' Claudio, this is a very important season for the Club. It is very important for us to survive in the Premier League. We have to stay safe '. My answer was ' okay, of course. We will work hard in training and try to achieve them ', "said Ranieri some time ago.
In the interpretation of Ranieri, survive in the Premier League means to grab at least 40 points in a season. With the number of such points, Leicester should be safe from relegation.
However, Ranieri and Leicester was apparently exceeding the target. After the target 40 points were reached, they could not stop collecting points. They now have ensured a place in the group phase of the Champions League next season.
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In the Champions League next season, Leicester is indeed a newcomers team. However, The Foxes actually had the experience of performing in the European club competitions, though not much. Leicester took part in Cup Winners ' Cup 1961/1962, 1997/1998 UEFA Cup, and UEFA Cup 2000/2001. There's nothing to be proud of the participation of Leicester on three such opportunities because they cannot get past the first round.
The Champions League is something different. The teams that appear in it are the best teams from across the Continent. Whether Leicester deserved to be there? Of course deserved because they have been working very hard for the sake of attaining their present positions. However, whether Leicester would make the Champions League as their new habitat or they turned out to be just another passed passenger, it was another matter.
On August 25, 2016, Leicester will know which teams will be their opponents in the group phase of the Champions League. On that date, the lottery of group phase will be done in Monaco. As in the other round, the lottery results in the group phase will also strongly influenced the accomplishments of a team. If a lottery results were lucrative, Leicester could only dream of reaching the knockout phase. However, if they're unlucky, they may just be stuck in hell.
Speaking about the lottery of the group phase, of course, inseparable from the question of "which pot are they?". These questions will be answered in the next few weeks. If Leicester won the Premier League, they would enter the Pot 1. Pot 1 contains champion teams of the seven top League's of Europe plus the European Champions League this season.
If Leicester does not champion and finishes in second or third position, then their fate will be determined by UEFA coefficient ranking clubs participants of group phase next season. This coefficient will depend on the achievement of each of the clubs in European competition in five seasons. Because of Leicester's absence in the European competitions in the last five seasons, they would almost certainly go in Pot 4.
Entering the Pot 1 cannot guarantee that Leicester will go into the light group. Instead, enter the Pot 4 also does not mean the end of the world for them.
If it refers to a subdivision of the pot this season, by going into Pot 1, Leicester could be one group with teams like Porto, Olympiakos, and Maccabi Tel Aviv. However, they can also directly met Real Madrid, AS Roma, and Wolfsburg.
While if the into Pot 4, Leicester might just be entering heavy group containing Bayern Munich, Real Madrid, and Roma. But, it does not cover the possibility they got a lighter group meet with Zenit Saint Petersburg, Porto, and Olympiakos.
The scenarios will also apply to the next season. Everything will depend on how lucky Leicester in the drawing.
Leicester actually does not need to be discouraged by their status as the newcomer team in the Champions League. There are several newcomer team that successfully made the surprise. This season, Gent and Wolfsburg managed to penetrate the knockout round. While APOEL unpredictably qualified for the quarterfinals in 2011/2012. But, no one beat the Villarreal sensation under Manuel Pellegrini, who advanced to the semifinals in 2005/2006.
Furthermore, Leicester got a manager who had experience in European level within Ranieri. Ranieri ever accompanied Chelsea to the semi-finals of the Champions League in 2003/2004. While working in Valencia, Ranieri also grabbed the trophy of Intertoto Cup and UEFA Super Cup. So, fans of Leicester should not need to worry too much about the fate of their favorite team in the most elite competition in Europe in the next season.
Should be anticipated is how the performance of Leicester on the transfer market this summer. With qualifying for the Champions League, they need much better equitable Squad, something which has not been owned by Leicester on this season. They will have to recruit new players to strengthen the team. With match schedule that more solid and the possibility of the away match to various corners of Europe, Ranieri will more often do the rotation.
Also, it is important for Leicester to retain their pillar players. Jamie Vardy, Riyad Mahrez, N'Golo Kanté, Danny Drinkwater, even Wes Morgan and Christian Fuchs to be secured from the temptations of the big teams. This is not an easy job for a club like Leicester.
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Starting by next season, Leicester supporters will feel a different atmosphere at the King Power Stadium. They will hear for the first time the Champions League anthem going to be played in the stadium of their pride. And for the first time, too, the world-class stars sort of Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi might just set his feet there.
"You imagine coming to see Barcelona. Our fans for the first time will be watching the players of Barcelona. Messi, Xavi. Wonderful, "said Ranieri about it.
If they could speak a lot in the Champions League next season and consistently qualify for the competition each season; Leicester may have already found their new habitat, namely in the elite European competition. However, if their achievements this season turned out to be just one-season sensation, Leicester seemingly should make a statue for Ranieri so that this rare achievement could be remembered long into the future.
Leicester will take part in the International Champions Cup in the summer. Although not an official competition, the event is more-less important to measure their readiness before entering into the Champions League. It could be some pre-test before they performed at the arena.
The three opponents are already waiting on the event. Celtic in Glasgow, Paris Saint-Germain in Los Angeles, and the last Barcelona in Stockholm. Interesting, isn't it?
Leicester City vs Swansea
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