davieG Posted 28 August 2019 Posted 28 August 2019 Planet Football28th August 2019 https://www.planetfootball.com/nostalgia/a-tribute-to-esteban-cambiasso-and-his-final-stand-with-leicester-city/ Esteban Cambiasso was never the obvious choice for an import who would thrive at a newly-promoted Premier League club, but he did all that and more in his year at Leicester. When Leicester City returned to the Premier League in 2014, there was little to suggest things would be much different to their relegation from the same division a decade earlier. They might have won the Championship at a canter, but their summer signings weren’t the kind to fill people with tons of confidence. Leo Ulloa and Tom Lawrence were brought in to boost the Foxes’ attack, but the most eye-catching deal was the one that saw Ulloa’s compatriot Esteban Cambiasso move to the East Midlands. Cambiasso had never played in England before, and he hadn’t played anywhere that wasn’t Inter Milan for a full decade. The Argentine played more than 400 games for Inter, and was on the books of the Italian club when he rounded off one of the finest ever World Cup team moves against Serbia & Montenegro in 2006. Still, a defensive midfielder, who had turned 34 a couple of weeks before joining – was this really what Leicester needed? Could he really gel with a Nigel Pearson squad? As it turns out, the answer to both questions was a resounding ‘yes’. A surprising impact Cambiasso’s arrival was greeted with references to plenty of other out-of-the-blue arrivals, from Youri Djorkaeff’s Bolton stint to Attilio Lombardo joining Crystal Palace. However, a lot of these were attack-minded players whose impact could be quantified far more easily than a man who was never picked for his scoring ability. Even if Cambiasso ended up thriving, it wouldn’t matter if the goals didn’t arrive from elsewhere. It was strange, then, that his first goal arrived in the sort of game that couldn’t be more different from the sensible, solid football he had provided under José Mourinho en route to winning the Champions League with Inter. Leicester and Manchester United had already exchanged five goals by the time Cambiasso pounced to turn the ball home after a Jamie Vardy miscontrol, but if there was ever any doubt about his commitment to his new club then that vanished the second you saw the passion that went into the celebration, Cambiasso’s final tally of five goals was more than he managed in any of his final three Inter seasons, but none were more important than his strike against West Ham in March. Leicester had dropped seven points adrift of safety with a 4-3 defeat to Tottenham, and it could have been an excuse for some of their players to down tools after recognising an already tall order was on the verge of morphing into an insurmountable task. Indeed, if you wanted to resort to cliché, the close-to-retirement South American with a Champions League title to his name would surely have been the hot favourite to decide this wasn’t for him. Yet Cambiasso was one of the main reasons the Foxes kept fighting. Early in the game against the Hammers, he let fly with a belter of a left-footed shot so pure it felt as though it represented the way he sought to dig the team out of the hole it had got itself into. It was if he was saying “we don’t need to give up”, looking at the way his compatriot Carlos Tevez helped wrest West Ham from a similar position after his own 4-3 loss to Spurs in 2007. With one swing of the boot, he loudly told the Premier League “no. I’m not done yet”. “I think the most important trophy is that Leicester City play next season in the Premier League,” Cambiasso said upon receiving his Player of the Year award at the end of the season, having helped the club pick up 22 points in their last nine games to climb from last to 14th, staying up with a game to spare. “I’m more of a team player than a star and I like the group trophies more than the individual trophies.” He opted to turn down the option of a contract extension despite having, in his words, “lived one of the most important years of my career”. Little did he know that, if he’d stuck around, the next year was poised to be even more special. However, when Wes Morgan and his Leicester team-mates lifted the Premier League trophy in 2016, they’ll have known none of it would have been possible without Esteban Cambiasso giving them the platform to thrive.
joachim1965 Posted 28 August 2019 Posted 28 August 2019 Would have loved to see him win the league with us, that would have been the perfect end to his career.
Stadt Posted 28 August 2019 Posted 28 August 2019 1 hour ago, joachim1965 said: Would have loved to see him win the league with us, that would have been the perfect end to his career. We probably wouldn’t have done if he’d stayed on
PhillippaT Posted 28 August 2019 Posted 28 August 2019 1 hour ago, joachim1965 said: Would have loved to see him win the league with us, that would have been the perfect end to his career. Cambiasso and Kante in midfield...?
StriderHiryu Posted 28 August 2019 Posted 28 August 2019 I remember both of those games like they were yesterday, great times. The Man United game is probably the best ever game at the KP in terms of drama, performance and atmosphere, though the Sevilla home game comes very close! Still when he hit that goal, the stands just absolutely erupted! We'd been stuck in the Championship for so long that seeing that goal (and the others) fly in was a huge reward for sticking with the team. It was surreal to see that Esteban blooming Cambiasso, yes THAT Cambiasso from Real Madrid, Argentina and Inter Milan fame strolling about the Premier League park making Man United's midfield look foolish and spanking in a debut goal. By the time that West Ham game rolled around I thought we were already gone, but that was a great result to put us back in it. To be honest I still thought we would go down after that game, but it kick started it all. I understand why he left that season, but I do think he could have gone on one more, and I do wonder if we would have won the title had we stayed. I actually think Cambiasso and Kante would have been even better than Kante and Drinkwater. Drinkwater had a very good season, but Cambiasso was an even better passer and distributor of the ball, and Kante's three lungs would have coped with the defensive work. Well we will never know and I certainly don't want to gloss over Drinkwater's massive contribution to our greatest ever era. Bloody brilliant player Cambiasso. If he was in the Premier League during his peak, he would have been on a Keane / Vieria / Kante level IMO. That he was that good at 34 was scandalous. It will be interesting to follow his coaching career, as I could see a situation where he ends up as LCFC manager.
Ric Flair Posted 28 August 2019 Posted 28 August 2019 Cambiasso as a different option instead of Inler, we'd have won the fcuker by 30 points.
StriderHiryu Posted 28 August 2019 Posted 28 August 2019 Just now, pmcla26 said: Imagine if Rodgers was able to propel us into becoming a Champions League club, then Cambiasso comes in once he goes, takes the reigns and uses his unfinished business from his departure as determination to win our second Premier League title... wow, that would be the second greatest fairytale of all time. Well I wouldn't mind living in that timeline! As far as I know, Cambiasso has his UEFA A badge, so needs just one more badge (UEFA International) and then he manage any team. Currently I believe he could be an assistant, or manager up to the Championship level. Those badges usually take 2 years to do. He was at the world cup helping out Colombia when Jose Pekerman (also an Argentine) was in charge. Cambiasso did clash with some of the players at Leicester when he was here, which I find quite interesting. But I think this is likely down to having very high standards as you'd expect from a treble winner. Anyway in your timeline that will be at a time when many of our current legends are gone, though I expect Wes and Kasper to stay with the club post retirement as coaches.
stripeyfox Posted 28 August 2019 Posted 28 August 2019 the goal against West Ham was the moment the Leicester corpse twitched. It is astonishing to look back now at how dead and buried we were at that point and marvel at everything which happened after that goal.
Lionheart10 Posted 28 August 2019 Posted 28 August 2019 It was a privilege to watch someone like him live,proper footballing brain.
Pliskin Posted 28 August 2019 Posted 28 August 2019 He was different class, was throughout most of his career. It was a genuine pleasure to have a player of his stature at the club, such a shame he was not a few years younger and could add to his already full medal collection.
nnfox Posted 28 August 2019 Posted 28 August 2019 Absolutely brilliant for us. He could spot a pass too. I'll always remember he played a pass out to his left that split the defence (can't recall the opposition). The whole crowd seemed to groan as it looked like a wasted ball to no-one but it turned to complete applause when the crowd realised that he had spotted Schlupp making a run and got onto the end of it in acres of space. Just a shame there wasn't an end product to the move.
urban.spaceman Posted 30 March 2020 Posted 30 March 2020 Won the Champions League and the Club World Cup with Inter Milan. Wears a ****ing Leicester City jacket around the house. And not even just something he had lying around from his one season here: it's one from the current ****ing season. He's magic.
Aus Fox Posted 30 March 2020 Posted 30 March 2020 5 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said: Won the Champions League and the Club World Cup with Inter Milan. Wears a ****ing Leicester City jacket around the house. And not even just something he had lying around from his one season here: it's one from the current ****ing season. He's magic. He’s magic you know Leicester fan Cambiasso
Guest Manini Posted 30 March 2020 Posted 30 March 2020 Hahaha why has he got that on?! What a geezer.
sylofox Posted 30 March 2020 Posted 30 March 2020 33 minutes ago, Finnegan said: We helping him with his badges? He would need to be at the club for that.
urban.spaceman Posted 31 March 2020 Posted 31 March 2020 10 hours ago, The Horse's Mouth said: Hes in the Colombia setup ain't he Think that was just for the World Cup?
TheUltimateWinner Posted 31 March 2020 Posted 31 March 2020 13 hours ago, urban.spaceman said: Won the Champions League and the Club World Cup with Inter Milan. Wears a ****ing Leicester City jacket around the house. And not even just something he had lying around from his one season here: it's one from the current ****ing season. He's magic. Just a Leicester fan cooking up some grub! “I was happy because I had a chance to be a Leicester player for one year and after I continued to be a Leicester supporter. https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/esteban-cambiasso-says-leicester-city-803428
BrummieFOX Posted 31 March 2020 Posted 31 March 2020 What a bloke. Will never forget his second half cameo Stoke away. Our whole end basically just laughing about how much better he was than everyone on the pitch.
Guest Mickyblueeyes Posted 31 March 2020 Posted 31 March 2020 36 minutes ago, TheUltimateWinner said: Just a Leicester fan cooking up some grub! “I was happy because I had a chance to be a Leicester player for one year and after I continued to be a Leicester supporter. https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/esteban-cambiasso-says-leicester-city-803428 You know I was reading a comment by Alan Smith yesterday about his final game at Leicester on sky sports and felt quite pee’d as it came across that he saw Leicester as a stepping stone before his “big move”. Add to that Mahrez comments from last year. You get guys who don’t really (or it doesn’t really come across) appreciate what this club did for so many careers. Than you see this. The most decorative player in our bloody history. The guy who in his trophy cabinet can sit across the room of all these other ex-players who seem to forget Filbert Street/The KP was the ground on which the world first recognised them and roll out half of his trophy cabinet and have more to show than all of them put together, is a Leicester fan. The class of the man. Please be a great manager and please, one day come back to lead us to great things. He is bloody magic!
goody2028 Posted 31 March 2020 Posted 31 March 2020 7 minutes ago, BrummieFOX said: Will never forget his second half cameo Stoke away. Our whole end basically just laughing about how much better he was than everyone on the pitch. Wasn’t that for the whole season as well
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