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Roma’s new head coach Claudio Ranieri celebrated his return to England with a message of good luck for old club Leicester and congratulations to Tottenham coach Ange Postecoglou for producing the football he loves.

Ranieri is back in a country where he has managed four teams but is best known for masterminding one of the sport’s biggest shocks when he led Leicester to the Premier League title in 2016.

The 73-year-old was due to retire after leading Cagliari to safety in May. However, he is back with Roma for a third time and will take charge of his second game on Thursday evening, away to Spurs in the Europa League.

“Tomorrow it will be a difficult game against a very strong opponent,” Ranieri told reporters at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

“They scored the four goals against Man City, so they’ve obviously had a good period. They won against City, United and Aston Villa.

“This is a team that pushes hard and pushes forward. It’s the type of football I love because it conveys emotions to the fans. I would like to congratulate your coach on his excellent work.”

Ranieri spent 18 months at Leicester, who sacked Steve Cooper on Sunday, and was asked whether he would have returned to the King Power Stadium if he had received the call before responding to Roma’s SOS earlier this month.

“When I decided to end my career, I really thought that I would not return to the bench and only two teams could make me change my mind: Roma and Cagliari,” explained the Italian.

“I was hoping not to come back because that would mean things wouldn’t go well for these teams. As for Leicester, I’m sure they’ll bounce back.

“They have a great fan base, a great board and (Jamie) Vardy continues to score goals regularly. I’m pretty confident they’ll recover and wish them all the best.”

Spurs boss Postecoglou paid tribute to “Gentleman” Ranieri on the sidelines before the first meeting.

“It’s unbelievable. It just shows the passion he has for the game. I’m sure there are more pleasant ways to live his life now, but he still has it in him,” Postecoglou said.

“I’ve never met him before, but I’m looking forward to saying hello. It’s always nice to meet people who have had a significant impact on football, especially managers.

“He always seems like a gentleman. I’m looking forward to getting to know him. It just shows that the fault you have as a manager for being on the sidelines doesn’t leave you.”

Postecoglou also reflected on Ranieri’s ability to lead Leicester to a stunning Premier League title win. He said: “I don’t know if it’s inspired but it’s definitely what I love about football.”

“There aren’t many sports where that can happen. Such an unlikely story of a club and a manager who already had a really good reputation coming together so well in the biggest league in the world. It’s a damn good story.

“It’s one of those where, when you see it in motion, you think, ‘Great movie, but ahhh, that’s never going to happen.'” And it did.

“Everyone who has had that experience at Leicester, and everyone involved with the people there, and for Claudio and his family, that’s all we want, just to make a mark in our careers, that beyond our ability to do what we do.” .

“He has certainly left a huge footprint at Leicester this season.”

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