Ranieri: The fairytale is over

Claudio Ranieri has admitted that Leicester City are in a battle against relegation and has declared the 'fairytale' to be over.

The Italian masterminded the Foxes' scarcely believable Premier League win last season but has had to watch as his side struggle this campaign despite a summer of high investment.

Leicester have qualified for the knockout stages of the Champions League but have endured a horrible defence of their league crown and now sit just two points above the relegation zone.

Speaking to Sky Sports ahead of Sunday's visit by Manchester United, Ranieri has called on everyone to pull together so the possibility of an embarrassing demotion to the Championship is averted.

"I can understand what we did last season was something special, a fairy tale. I was waiting for this kind of season last season," he said. "Then we made something extraordinary, out of the world. Everything was fantastic, everything was right.

"Everything now is wrong. Now you have to choose; if you are a loser, you say it's gone. If you aren't a loser you fight, you continue to fight, believe.

"I believe we can arrive, we must be together, together with the fans. The fans enjoyed last season and less so this season, but we are a family, we are strong.

"Now is the right time. I think we thought a lot of about what we did last season - everything was fantastic. And then we believed it was possible also this season. No, it's finished. The fairy tale has finished. Now it is the reality.

"If you are a loser in this sport, you are a loser also in life. If you are a gladiator, a fighter in this sport, in life you can be the same.

"The reality must come back, and from two seasons ago, the fighting until the end. I believe because my players are champions, and fighters.

"With how we won the title, anything is possible. But of course I want to see my players fight until the end.

"I don't believe that they don't believe in me. If they don't believe in me, they have to do only one thing, and that is go to the chairman and tell them they don't believe, please change. But I feel we are together.

"And the same from the owners, he supports.

"Everything was OK, full of confidence, now nobody, or very few people, believe in us. Now maybe confidence is very, very low. I don't know if it actually is. My confidence is full, always, more than last season, because it's my character. Under pressure, I don't go down, I go up."

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