Leicester City is ready to live a Cinderella story for the second straight year. They were the biggest soccer story last season, and it seems they don’t want to go anywhere.
If you remember, they won the Premier League title during the 2015-16 season. And now they shifted their focus to the European stage. They are struggling in the EPL, but they have been a huge success in Europe so far. After all, it’s not easy to sneak into the top eight teams in Europe while trying to avoid relegation at the domestic level.
The Foxes topped Group G with a 4-1-1 record and caught everyone’s attention, but they didn’t stop there. Following Claudio Ranieri’s departure, they eliminated Sevilla in the Round of 16. Jorge Sampaoli’s team have been one of the best teams in La Liga this season. So this was clearly a huge accomplishment, especially considering they changed their head coach shortly before the second leg.
So obviously, what everyone want to know is: can Leicester pull another upset and win the Champions League? Let’s take a deeper look at the competition.
First of all, let’s take a look at their immediate future. Leicester will battle Atletico Madrid in the Champions League quarterfinals, and there’s no question Los Colchoneros are the main favorites. However, it would be wrong to sleep on Leicester again. Everyone takes them for granted, but they always find a way to succeed.
Does that mean they have big chances to get past Atletico? Sadly, no. Leicester will need a perfect performance on both matches if they want to reach the semifinals. And if they somehow manage to advance, things will get even tougher. Juventus, FC Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and Monaco could be their semi-final opponents. In a perfect universe, they would play against Dortmund or Monaco. But they need to take care of Atletico first and foremost.
And there’s something else that hasn’t been discussed yet: their Premier League situation. Things have improved of late, but Leicester hasn’t secured their Premier League berth for the upcoming season. And it would be worthless to put all the effort in the Champions League if their Premier League situation is at risk. There’s no question both the manager and the players would prefer to focus in the league if given the chance.
So yes, Leicester might be a nice story, and I’m pretty sure fans all over the world will support them. But they need to focus on what’s important first. After all, that strategy has worked for them so far. Why would they change when it matters the most? So if they are wise, they would concentrate their efforts in the Premier League.
A Champions League title? I’m sorry, but it’s not their time. But as they taught us last year, we can’t count them out.