The last time Leicester City’s players visited Copenhagen they spent the weekend drinking Guinness while dressed as Batman, Bananaman, Power Rangers and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. Never could they have imagined that 11 months later they would return to the Danish capital as the Premier League title winners and on the brink of qualification for the last 16 of the Champions League.
It has been some journey since that Christmas party last December, when fancy-dress costumes were the order of the day and everyone outside Leicester was waiting for Claudio Ranieri’s side to fall away. The fairytale that unfolded over the next six months is well known but Ranieri is now talking about “writing a new chapter” as Leicester go in search of the fourth successive victory that would secure their place in the Champions League knockout stage with two games to spare.
Although it is fair to say that Leicester were not handed the toughest draw when that little bit of paper was unfolded in Monaco back in August, it has still been remarkable to see how well a team with so little experience at this level have adapted to Europe’s premier club competition. Leicester are one of only three clubs to win all three opening matches this season, along with Atlético Madrid and Barcelona, and as things stand they could become the first team in Champions League history to go through the entire group stage without conceding a goal.
It all feels slightly surreal on so many levels, not least when Andy King takes his seat at a Champions League press conference and is asked a question about playing for Leicester in a 2-1 League One win against Bristol Rovers eight years ago to the day and, almost in the next breath, casts his mind back to walking around the streets of Copenhagen dressed as Michelangelo, one of the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.
“We had a great weekend – that sort of sums up the team spirit we’ve got in the camp,” King said, smiling at the memory. “We all came away for the Christmas party, we had a great time and saw bits of the city. But we’re here for work now and hopefully we can go home as happy as we did last time.”
Buoyed by the 1-1 draw at Tottenham Hotspur on Saturday, which Ranieri described as the best performance of the season, the mood in the Leicester camp is once again full of optimism, captured by the manager’s relaxed demeanour in Denmark. The Italian said that he was still “too young” when he was asked by a local journalist whether, because he is capable of performing miracles, he would consider taking over the Danish national team.
It also turns out that Ranieri prepared for the flight to Copenhagen by welcoming trick-or-treaters at his home in Leicester the previous night. Typically with Ranieri, those who rang the doorbell were not disappointed. “I put a big bag of chocolates at the door, people came – unbelievable,” the Leicester manager said, laughing. “I came to the door, went back to my sitting room to watch the television and ‘ring!’ And I go back. Then I put the chair very close to the door. It was good.”
Things will get much more serious against Copenhagen, who proved to be difficult opponents at the King Power Stadium last month, when only an outstanding save from Kasper Schmeichel denied Stale Solbakken’s side a late equaliser. Leicester’s 1-0 win, courtesy of Riyad Mahrez’s superb flick, inflicted the Danish champions’ first defeat in 27 matches. Copenhagen still have a formidable record at home, however, where they have gone 28 games without defeat in all competitions – a sequence that stretches back to August last year, when they lost against the Czech club Jablonec.
Leicester will try to end that record without Islam Slimani, their club-record signing, who is still struggling with a groin injury, meaning Shinji Okazaki is likely to retain his place up front and play just behind Jamie Vardy, who has gone 11 games for club and country without scoring.
“I think Slimani is not ready,” said Ranieri, who confirmed that Ahmed Musa is fit to play despite taking a knock when he equalised at White Hart Lane. “I don’t want to risk Slimani, the physio told me he is OK but ‘be careful’, so why lose a player for one match?”
Copenhagen are expecting their 38,000-capacity stadium to be close to full, with 3,400 travelling supporters swelling the numbers and hoping to see Leicester pick up the result – a draw would be enough if Porto fail to beat Club Brugge – that would create a little bit of history.
“I understand everybody wants to win [against Copenhagen] but for us it’s important that we have everything in our hands,” Ranieri said. “We can write a new chapter of the Leicester story but maybe it’s not [on Wednesday]. It’s important to concentrate because Copenhagen are well organised. I respect them a lot. But we are very close to achieving something special.”
Copenhagen (4-4-2, probable): Olsen; Ankersen, Jorgensen, Johansson, Augustinsson; Verbic, Kvist, Delaney, Toutouh; Cornelius, Santander
Subs from Andersen, Hogil, Antonsson, Gregus, Kusk, Pavlovic, Falk
Leicester City (4-4-1-1, probable): Schmeichel; Simpson, Morgan, Huth, Fuchs; Mahrez, Drinkwater, King, Albrighton; Vardy, Okazaki
Subs from Zieler, Hernández, Musa, Amartey, Schlupp, Slimani, Ulloa, Chilwell
Referee Felix Brych (Ger)
