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Rediff.com  » Sports » PHOTOS: The party's on in Leicester City...

PHOTOS: The party's on in Leicester City...

May 17, 2016 10:47 IST
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Players, manager, fans celebrate title triumph with victory parade

 The Buses carrying the Leicester squad and trophy make their way through the the streets during the Leicester City Barclays Premier League winners bus parade on Monday 

IMAGE: The Buses carrying the Leicester squad and trophy make their way through the the streets during the Leicester City Barclays Premier League winners bus parade in Leicester on Monday. Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Images

LeicesterCity's players celebrated their Premier League title success with a victory parade on an open-top bus through the streets of the Midlands county town in front of about 250,000 ecstatic fans on Monday.

Supporters had begun lining the streets from midday to see their heroes and Italian manager

Leicester City's female fans surely love manager Claudio Ranieri

IMAGE: Leicester City's female fans surely love manager Claudio Ranieri. Photograph: Alex Pantling/Getty Images

Claudio Ranieri display the gleaming trophy that had seemed an unlikely prize at the start of the season when they were 5,000-1 outsiders.

The players waved and smiled as they passed the thousands thronging the streets on their way from Jubilee Square in the city centre to a special stage erected in Victoria Park where they lapped up the adulation of the adoring Foxes faithful.

Leicester is a cosmopolitan place and evidently the football club has its share of South Asian-origin supporters

IMAGE: Leicester is a cosmopolitan place and evidently the football club has its share of South Asian-origin supporters. Photograph: Alex Pantling/Getty Images

The players were individually introduced to the crowd who cheered every name and the players re-enacted being presented with the trophy -- which they had received officially after their final home game against Everton at the King Power Stadium.

"I enjoyed today in front of all our fans. I want to say thank you to everybody because in all the season they pushed behind us and they believed in us," said Ranieri, who like Leicester, picked up his first top-flight league title.

The Buses carrying the Leicester squad and trophy make their way through the the streets

IMAGE: Leicester players and the manager were greeted by hundreds of fans who lined up the streets. Photograph: Michael Regan/Getty Images

Captain Wes Morgan said: "What we've achieved this season has been fantastic and the boys and the staff... and the fans, everyone has contributed to it and it has been a fantastic season and you can't take that away from us."

Leicester finished 10 points ahead of Arsenal, with Tottenham Hotspur, the only team left chasing the Foxes in the final weeks of the season, finishing a further point back.

Leicester fans with a pretend fox before the parade

IMAGE: Leicester fans with a pretend fox before the parade. Photograph: Action Images via Reuters/Carl Recine/Livepic

Algeria winger Riyad Mahrez added: "I'm very happy to be here with these fans and it's amazing, unbelievable. What we've done this season... we should be proud of ourselves. It's magnificent."

Highlights of the club's amazing season, including goals from striker Jamie Vardy, the Football Writers' Player of the Year, and PFA Player of the Year Mahrez, plus memorable quotes from

Sergio Pizzorno of Kasabian performs during the Leicester City Barclays Premier League winners bus parade

IMAGE: Sergio Pizzorno of Kasabian performs during the Leicester City Barclays Premier League winners bus parade. Photograph: Laurence Griffiths/Getty Images

Ranieri, were replayed on big screens to cheers.

Rock band Kasabian, who formed in Leicester in 1997 and are fans of the club, performed after the players left the stage.

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