Leicester City’s title-winning season is one that will forever go down in history.
At the start of the season, the Foxes were given odds of 5000/1 to win the Premier League after coming off the back of the previous campaign where seven wins in their final nine games spared them from relegation.
After Nigel Pearson was sacked, Claudio Ranieri was appointed as his replacement. The decision was questioned by the likes of Gary Lineker but Ranieri struck a chord with the squad.
The likes of N’Golo Kante and Riyad Mahrez have been endorsed by Arsene Wenger for their performances that season in the years that followed as the club allowed others to dare to dream
But, for all of the success Leicester had, one of their problems at the start of the season was failing to keep a clean sheet.
Luckily for the players, Ranieri had a great idea to stop leaking goals and lo and behold, it worked.
- READ MORE: Who is Claudio Ranieri? All you need to know about Leicester City’s title-winning manager
Claudio Ranieri promised to buy Leicester players pizza if they kept a clean sheet
Ahead of his side’s trip to Stoke City the Italian was concerned that the Foxes were yet to finish a game with a clean sheet.
Despite their excellent run of form, it was something that the Leicester legend wanted in order to continue the Midlander’s fine start to the season but to ensure they’d get themselves over the line, Ranieri proposed the idea of buying them some authentic Italian cuisine.
“I want to buy pizza but my players don’t want pizza, maybe they don’t love pizza,” Ranieri said.
“Because I said when we make a clean sheet, I will buy everybody a pizza. Maybe they wait until I say ‘Okay, a good dinner’.
“I told them, the clean sheet, I buy everybody a pizza. I think they wait until I improve my offer, okay a pizza and a hot dog.”
Claudio Ranieri stuck to pizza promise after Leicester clean sheet
Although it didn’t happen against Stoke City, with Leicester coming from 2-0 down to draw 2-2.
Eventually, the day did come on 24 October 2015 as the Foxes beat Crystal Palace 1-0 thanks to Jamie Vardy’s second-half goal.
Ranieri was a man of his word and took his squad out for a pizza making class before they tucked into their well-deserved reward.
Reflecting on the reward, Leicester’s manager said: “I pay. They deserve this pizza and today we will eat. It’s good to stay together.
“It was a very tough game against Palace — it’s good. I hope they enjoy it today.
“It’s the team spirit and they enjoy training. They know they can work hard and enjoy. A little bit of luck is important. Luck is the salt, the fans are the tomato — with no tomato there is no pizza.”