leicester city
Leicester legend After defeating “phenomenon” Lionel Messi.
Former Austria defender Christian Fuchs played a pivotal role as Leicester shocked the footballing world in 2016 and he is now attempting to do the same with MLS outfit Charlotte FC
Christian Fuchs lived a football fairytale when he helped Leicester become Premier League champions.
Now he’s living the American dream, coaching in the league that has Lionel Messi as its star-spangled attraction. Fuchs, 37, joined Charlotte FC’s coaching staff last year after hanging up his boots at the end of the North Carolinian club’s debut season in MLS.
When he took time out from a training camp in Miami ahead of the new campaign to talk about his career on the other side of the white line, it wasn’t long until the subject of the world’s greatest player came up. Last season, Charlotte reached the end-of-season play-offs by beating an Inter Miami team that included both Argentina’s World Cup-winning captain and his former Barcelona team-mate Sergio Busquets 1-0 in front of more than 66,000 fans.
It was a huge moment for a club that has since appointed former Aston Villa, Norwich and Leicester boss Dean Smith as head coach. “It wasn’t beating Messi’s team that made it so special,” said Fuchs. “It was winning a game that we had to win to make the play-offs that gave the players and coaching staff a big sense of achievement.
“What the players did so well was not to fall into the trap of concentrating on one world-class player and forget about the rest of Inter Miami’s team.
“It was a proud moment. Messi is still a phenomenon. He has come to the States for business rather than pleasure – and anyone who doubts that should look at how he scored 11 goals in just 14 games. He really wants to win.
“Inter Miami also had Busquets. Now David Beckham has signed Luis Suarez. This has brought a lot of focus to the MLS, but I think the league is now coming to a stage where it has to ease things like salary caps and restrictions on which players clubs can sign.
“If the MLS wants to keep growing, by attracting international stars who are at the peak of their careers rather than towards the end, then the decision-makers must loosen the rules. The next stage has to be to deliver a product that isn’t just attractive to Messi fans or Suarez fans – and that means changing the structure. That’s the only way to appeal to a world-wide audience.
“In my opinion, that might be the most important legacy that Messi brings to the MLS. There is a realisation that the Premier League is the best not because there are one or two stars, but because every team has really top players.”
Fuchs still keeps a close eye on events at the King Power Stadium and is impressed with the job Enzo Maresca is doing in his bid to get Leicester back into the top-flight after the shock of relegation just seven years after being crowned champions. The Austrian also lifted the FA Cup and Community Shield during his six years in the East Midlands.
But he prefers not to look back in case the whole experience proves to be only the sweetest of dreams. “Did it really happen?” asked Fuchs. “Leicester winning the Premier League? Really?
“It was a season when so many unlikely things just happened at the same time, like a perfect storm. “I still keep in touch with Robert Huth, Wes Morgan and Danny Simpson – and it’s good to see Jamie Vardy scoring goals at the same age as me!
“I don’t think a story like that will ever happen again. But you never know. That’s the beauty of football. If you had told me just a few years ago that I would go into coaching, I would have said you were crazy.
“But I started to realise that when I finished playing I had to stay in the game, so when the offer to join the coaching staff at Charlotte came up, I knew it was the right thing for me. I love it. I get a different buzz than when I played, but it’s really satisfying when you see players buying into your ideas.”
