Grandeur and English football generally go hand in hand and the new Wembley in London is apt representation of that. The season always kicks off there, but this isn’t just any other season, a lot of reputations are at stake, beginning right from the 2016/17 Community Shield, it will be an unique match up when Leicester City, the English champions take on the FA Cup winners Manchester United. The season opener isn’t a match of massive magnitude and is not likely to have any effect on anyone, but one wrong call on the table, will set the tone for the season.
Neither had a season which they would have expected initially; the latter who need to arrest their recent down slide urgently have made a statement by ushering in Jose Mourinho and Zlatan Ibrahimovic into the dugout – two massive footballing personalities. Manchester United have won the pompous curtain raiser 20 times out of their 30 appearances, and the memory of last season’s FA Cup final win at the same venue will be fresh in their minds. That squad has been bolstered by the return of Luke Shaw; throw in the new additions and the Portugese manager; as far as opponents will be concerned it is not a mixture that is ‘all things nice’. The manager understands the dynamics of this game very well, “we have to face it as a game. we have the chance to give minutes to some people. Some who I know cannot play for 90 minutes, but of course we are going to try to win it.” The likes of Wayne Rooney, Juan Mata and the rest must use this as another chance to impress the veteran of four Community Shield contests, the pre-season wasn’t very rosy.
For Leicester City, the previous season was a fairy tale, and they would do well to listen to their manager, Claudio Ranieri who recently said ”I forgot what happened last season. Now my focus is on the new season.” After a humbling pre-season the Foxes have quite the task on hand, and they will need to be at their best on Sunday. The Foxes last won the season opener in 1971, when they beat Liverpool. Ranieri has lost one of his most important generals in midfielder N’Golo Kante, one look at last season and France’s campaign at the Euros will tell you it is a massive loss. Ranieri, who has never managed a team at Wembley, of course knew the big clubs were coming for his players; but the likes of Ahmed Musa and Nampalys Mendya will allow him to look ahead. Ranieri has a full squad at his disposal, all of whom have had quite an enriching experience in pre-season, matches against PSG and Barcelona cannot be a bad thing for Leicester.
Claudio Ranieri recently said, “This is not a friendly. We will give the maximum and also Manchester United will too. Both teams want to win it.”, while across the line Manchester United striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic said, "I’m used to winning trophies. I didn’t come here to waste my time.” The battle cries have been sounded, a not so important contest can eventually become a big deal if not treated right. There is silverware at stake and even though the proceeds will go to charity expect neither camp to go easy.
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