LONDON (AP) —
Leicester City completed one of the greatest-ever sporting achievements Monday
when the 5,000-1 underdogs won the Premier League for the first time. Leicester
players were crowded around a television inside top-scorer Jamie Vardy's house
as they were handed the title by closest challenger Tottenham being held to a
2-2 draw by deposed champion Chelsea.
With an insurmountable seven-point
lead over Tottenham with two games remaining, Leicester is champion of England
for the first time in its 132-year history. "Championes! Championes! Ole!
Ole! Ole!" the jubilant Leicester players sang as they jumped up and down
with their arms on each other's shoulders inside Vardy's house.
"Nobody believed we could do it,
but here we are — Premier League champions and deservedly so," Leicester
captain Wes Morgan said. "I've never known a spirit like the one between
these boys, we're like brothers."
Just two years ago, Vardy and many of
his teammates were playing in the second tier and then came close to instantly
dropping out of the Premier League. They started this season as among the
favorites to be relegated again. But on Monday night fans who never dreamed
their modest club in city with a population of 330,000 would conquer wealthier
rivals descended on Leicester's King Power Stadium to party into the night.
"People saw it last season when
everyone expected us to be relegated, but we fought back to prove people
wrong," Morgan said. "This season's been a continuation of that.
We've built on the momentum, but I don't think anyone believed it would come to
this."
Leicester, which will collect the
trophy on Saturday when it hosts Everton at home, had not even finished higher
than second since 1929. English soccer has not had a first-time champion of the
top flight since Nottingham Forest in 1978. And for the last 20 years the
Premier League trophy has never left London or Manchester, with Arsenal,
Chelsea, United and City sharing the trophy between them.
Unlike that title-winning quartet or
1995 champion Blackburn, Leicester has achieved its success without lavish
spending on its squad. Chelsea's draw also ensured Leicester manager Claudio
Ranieri became a league title winner for the first time in his career, 12 years
after the 64-year-old Italian was fired by the Blues.
"Let's do it for Ranieri,"
read one Chelsea fan's banner during Monday's game at Stamford Bridge where the
trophy was presented to Chelsea last May. "It's the greatest achievement
in the history of English football and it was led by an Italian," Matteo
Renzi, the Italian Prime Minister, tweeted.
Leicester missed a chance to seal the
title on Sunday when it was held to a draw by Manchester United but Chelsea
ensured the party wasn't delayed any longer. Tottenham had to win at Chelsea to
keep its bid for a first title since 1961 alive and led 2-0 thanks to goals
from striker Harry Kane and Son Heung-min, before Chelsea staged a second-half
fight back to draw in a fiery London derby where tempers frayed and tackles
flew in from everywhere.
"What a game," Leicester
defender Robert Huth tweeted. "Makes me look like an angel!
CHAMPIONS!!!" Center half Gary Cahill pulled a goal back for Chelsea early
in the second half, and with Tottenham clinging on, the equalizing goal was
scored by Eden Hazard.
Hazard's goal was almost a year to
the day since his strike won the title for Chelsea, which is 29 points behind
Leicester. Chelsea's collapse has been as astonishing as Leicester's surge to
the top of the standings it was bottom of last April.
Ranieri called Chelsea manager Guus
Hiddink to thank him for Chelsea's part in delivering the title to Leicester,
which is owned by Thai retail giant King Power. "(Ranieri said) five times
'Thanks', because of the emotion," Hiddink said. "I didn't see any
tears because it was not a Facetime conversation, but his voice was trembling a
bit."
One bookmaker, Sky Bet, said it paid
out 4.6 million pounds ($6.8 million) to punters who backed Leicester to win
the title, with 128 putting money on the team at 5,000-1. No sports team has
defied such odds to triumph and Leicester's improbable success has provided a
feel-good story for a country divided as it prepares to vote on whether to
remain in the European Union.
"Many congratulations to
Leicester," British Prime Minister David Cameron tweeted. "An
extraordinary, thoroughly deserved, Premier League title."
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