Leicester Coach Calls For ‘Soldiers’

Leicester City need “soldiers and gladiators” to save their season, says manager Claudio Ranieri.

Last season’s Premier League champions are fighting relegation and were beaten in the  FA Cup by League One side Millwall,  who had a player sent off.

Leicester, with one win in eight games, face a Champions League last-16 first-leg trip to Sevilla on Wednesday.

“I want to speak again with the players and say we have to fight for every match,” Ranieri said.

“I need the soldiers, I need the gladiators, because Millwall, with 10 players, showed they are fantastic gladiators.”

Millwall won with a last-minute goal from Shaun Cummings, despite playing for most of the second half with 10 men after Jake Cooper was dismissed.

With the visit to Sevilla and a Premier League home match against Liverpool to come, Leicester made 10 changes, but Ranieri still expected better from the players he selected at The Den.

“It is strange because last season we won like this, by being more determined than the opponent and playing with more heart than the opponent,” he said.

“We could also lose but we would fight every match. I want to see this, the fight until the end.

“This defeat could be good for us because when you lose against a team who fights, you have to say well done to them but why did we lose?”

Leicester have not won an away match in the Premier League all season, and are just one point above the relegation zone.

They are in danger of becoming only the second defending English champions to be relegated, after Manchester City went down in 1938.