Leicester City coach Claudio Ranieri said on Tuesday that he believed at Christmas his team would win the Premier League, even as he continued to tell the media his only goal was avoiding relegation. "Now I can say it, I always knew we'd win," Ranieri told Italian daily Il Fatto Quotidiano the day after Leicester's triumph. He said he had always denied any championship ambitions until almost the end of the season because "that's the way I am made, I have always preferred doing things rather than talking about them". Asked to pinpoint when he really became convinced Leicester could win, he said: "It was at Christmas. Relegation had been avoided and we gathered together to talk in the changing rooms and we said to each other, 'Let's go for it, we've got nothing to lose'." Ranieri played down his own role in the achievement, saying that teamwork was key to the club's success and his players had no shortage of ability.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Check out the top footballers of the weekend...
Inter Milan's lead at the top of Serie A was cut when they lost 2-1 at home to Lazio on Sunday while AS Roma beat Genoa 2-0 to record their first win in eight games and ease the pressure on under-fire coach Rudi Garcia.
Atletico Madrid got their La Liga campaign up and running in less than convincing fashion when Antoine Griezmann's deflected free kick secured an edgy 1-0 win at home to promoted Las Palmas on Saturday.
Duvan Zapata scored a goal of sheer brute force and determination to set Napoli on the way to a 2-0 win over Sassuolo which moved them another step closer to second-placed AS Roma in Serie A on Monday.
Real Madrid completed their pre-season tour of Australia with a crushing 4-1 friendly win over a depleted Manchester City in front of a record soccer crowd of 99,382 at the Melbourne Cricket Ground on Friday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Juventus missed a chance to extend their advantage over second-placed AS Roma when they played out a dismal 0-0 draw away to Udinese on Sunday, while Napoli closed in on Serie A's top two with a 2-1 win at Chievo.
Serie A witnessed some breath-taking football action, especially when AC Milan could not convert the umpteen chances they had against Sassuolo while Inter went to top. In Ligue 1 action, all the star players found the net for PSG. Here are images from the soccer matches played across Europe on Sunday.
Cristiano Ronaldo, fired up by rival Lionel Messi's midweek hat-trick for Barcelona, struck four goals in 26 second-half minutes as Real Madrid crushed Celta Vigo 7-1 at the Bernabeu on Saturday.
Fiorentina hit four goals before halftime, including a cheeky backheel by Gonzalo Rodriguez and a Panenka-style penalty from Khouma Babacar, to beat Frosinone 4-1 and join Inter Milan at the top of Serie A on Sunday.
Defender Miguel Britos was sent off for head-butting an opponent as Napoli lost 3-1 at champions Juventus on Saturday, all but ending their hopes of Champions League football next season.
Inter Milan's Serie A title hopes suffered a setback as they conceded a stoppage-time equaliser and were held 1-1 at home by relegation-threatened Carpi and leaders Napoli swept to a 4-2 win at Sampdoria.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Carlos Tevez scored a solo goal after a run that started inside his own half to cap an emphatic 7-0 win for Serie A leaders Juventus over hapless Parma on Sunday.
Bayern Munich's Thomas Mueller scored a hat-trick as the undefeated champions crushed Eintracht Frankfurt 4-0 to open up a seven-point lead at the top.
There will be plenty of tension in the air in North London on Wednesday when out-of-sorts Arsenal face Borussia Dortmund seeking to qualify from the Champions League group stage for the 15th successive season.
Raheem Sterling struck twice as the Premier League champions Manchester City beat Crystal Palace 3-1 at Selhurst Park on Sunday to stay within two points of leaders Liverpool.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field.
Demonised as a caricature of the highly-paid modern-day footballer whose ego dwarfs his talent, Raheem Sterling will have few fans when the Premier League begins next weekend.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Champions League holders Real Madrid will face former European champions Liverpool, FC Basel and debutants Ludogorets of Bulgaria following the group stage draw on Thursday.
Powerhouses Cameroon and Ivory Coast both battled back from a goal down to avoid shock defeats as they drew 1-1 with Mali and Guinea respectively in the African Nations Cup on Tuesday.
The match marks just the second time, and first in 35 years, that El Clasico will be played outside Spain.
Sergio Ramos equalled Iker Casillas's record of 167 appearances for Spain on an emotional night at Sporting Gijon's El Molinon stadium, which paid tribute to the late Spain and Sporting forward Quini before kickoff.
Paul Pogba repaid some of his world record transfer fee with two goals as Manchester United rediscovered their early-season shine, cruising to a 4-1 Europa League win over Fenerbahce to go top of their group on Thursday. Pogba scored a penalty and rifled United's third into the top corner. Anthony Martial also netted from the spot and Jesse Lingard fired home in the second half before former Old Trafford favourite Robin van Persie pulled one back for Fenerbahce. Inter Milan and AS Roma, though, had more testing evenings. Coach Frank de Boer breathed a sigh of relief when Inter survived an onslaught from Southampton to end a three-match losing streak with a 1-0 victory while Roma conceded twice late on to draw 3-3 at home to Austria Vienna.
All the latest football news from around Europe.
United's Ibrahimovic, Roma's Dzeko find the net thrice to give clubs first leg advantage
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
Liverpool flop Fabio Borini finally got Sunderland's English Premier League campaign up and running with a derby winner against bitter rivals Newcastle.
Seventh-placed Liverpool, who have 14 points from nine matches, travel to a Newcastle side buoyed by their League Cup victory over Manchester City.
Juventus striker Carlos Tevez scored a magnificent first-half goal, and later missed a penalty, as the runaway Serie A leaders won 1-0 at home to mid-table Genoa on Sunday.
News of all that's transpired on and off the football field
A summary of all the Champions League matches played across Europe on Tuesday
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