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Sacked...but not forgotten! Claudio Ranieri back at Leicester City for first time since he was axed nine months after Premier League title miracle

Claudio Ranieri will steel himself and try to fight back the tears. ‘I’m a very shy man,’ he said with a shrug. ‘I don’t want to show my emotions. If I am ready, I can be very calm. If I am surprised sometimes little tears happen.’

This occasion, however, might be a test for the Roman as he returns to Leicester City on Sunday for the first time in competition. An opponent and a friend, in a stadium where his smiling features are prominent on photographs and pre-match highlights reels.

Sacked but not forgotten, just as he harbours no animosity and has wished the club well since his exit a mere nine months after winning the Premier League title, the 5,000-1 miracle, and that spine-tingling presentation when he stood beside his friend Andrea Bocelli as the tenor sang Nessun Dorma in a Leicester shirt.