Playing through the pain: how Leicester City beat Cardiff City
Three points for Khun Vichai
It was, according to manager Claude Puel, the players’ choice to fly to Bangkok, Thailand, on Sunday for the funeral. At the time of writing, the team – including Jamie Vardy, Harry Maguire, Ben Chilwell and James Maddison – landed, drove straight to, and arrived at the Buddhist Temple. Paying their respects to Khun Vichai. Incredibly, just the day before, the squad managed incomprehensible solidarity in beating Cardiff City in Wales.
Post match, Puel attempted to divulge the details on his team’s inexplicable inner strength and composure – needed to defeat a committed, battling Bluebird side. Talking to lcfc.com, the Frenchman talked of the chairman’s pre-match catchphrase: “‘Three points!’ It was always the words before games from Vichai. All the time it was ‘three points’. A fantastic insight for the Foxes faithful.
The Leicester City gaffer resumed elucidating the miraculous win, thanks to Chilwell expertly assisting Demarai Gray’s neat finish:
"“…it was fantastic because I think we know our Chairman. “It was a difficult game to prepare, of course, and I would like to congratulate all the staff, all the players of the squad, because they participated a lot and they kept a good feeling, they found a good balance between their emotions and their aggressiveness and conviction on the pitch. “We won this game, I think we deserved to win this game. I am proud of my players because they gave their best in this condition, in this situation, and after it was fantastic to share our emotion and to know our Chairman with our fans, staff, players. “To communicate together just with a feeling for Vichai, it was a fantastic moment, shared between ourselves.” “All we wanted [was] to pay our tributes for the Chairman. Now it’s not finished, it’s not finished, because we want to continue. We will have a difficult week to prepare the next game. “First thing, the most important [thing] of course, we will go to honour our Chairman in Bangkok. “It [Burnley] will be also a special game at home, of course, to honour our Chairman with all the fans and I think a lot of events. It will be important also to keep in this situation, to keep our calm, our self-control. – Claude Puel (Via: lcfc.com)"