Claudio Ranieri has revealed his loyalties remain with his hometown club before Leicester travel to Roma in the Europa League semi-final on Thursday.
The Italian, 70, led the Foxes to their fairytale Premier League win in 2016. But Ranieri is also a born-and-bred Roma fan - and he has also coached the club twice. And he told Gazzetta dello Sport: “But what are you asking me? The relationship with Leicester was a professional fact, but supporting Roma takes me back to being a child. I can't betray them.
“I will go to the stadium. And I will remember the times I used to go to the Curva. Do you know how old I was when I went on my first away trip? I was 12 or 13. I went to Florence with a cousin on a fan bus which left from Flaminio.”
Roma escaped with a 1-1 draw at the King Power Stadium, and Ranieri makes Jose Mourinho ’s side the narrow favourites to go through to the final. “I would say they have a 55 per cent chance because this time there will be the Stadio Olimpico effect,” he said. “It will be great to see it full and I want to congratulate the club for the pricing policy which has allowed this.
“I don’t believe there is a chance of getting carried away. There is Mourinho on the bench, who I thank for the nice words he said about me before the first leg. Jose has already said it: ‘The fans have to use their hearts, us our heads’. He is right. However, Leicester are not as good playing away from home. If their season is not as good as they expected, it is because of what they have done away from home.”
Ex-Chelsea bosses Ranieri and Mourinho often sparred verbally in the past, but there was a rapprochement after the Italian’s 2017 sacking by Leicester. Asked about the strong points of the two sides, the Ranieri said: “The mentality of Mourinho, and, I hope, the refound form of (Tammy) Abraham and (Nicolo) Zaniolo.
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"It is a shame about the injury to Henrikh Mkhitaryan and it is up to Lorenzo Pellegrini to do twice the work. And finally the return of Chris Smalling. He will be a dam to stop potential counterattacks.
“For the English, on the other hand, I would said the organisation that Brendan Rodgers has brought in the forward attacking play. This desire to go deep was started by me, to exploit the strengths of someone like Jamie Vardy. But watch out also for James Maddison, he has a lot of quality.”
Asked if anyone had been in touch with him from Leicester, Ranieri replied: “No, nobody. A few weeks ago I was invited to remember the president (Vichai Srivaddhanaprabha) and I had contact with the general manager, but no one has spoken to me about the game.”
