Italy gripped by Leicester City’s fairytale title push as sports papers focus on Ranieri

It's understandable that Leicester City's march towards an unlikely Premier League has caused a ripple or two across the football world, but we weren't expecting this.

Over in Italy, Claudio Ranieri's homeland, the Foxes' win at Sunderland was enough to relegate this weekend's domestic results in Serie A to the sidebar. 'The rise to the throne, Italian style,' reads the main headline in La Gazzetta dello Sport, which features images of an emotional Ranieri at the end of his side's 2-0 win at the Stadium of Light. Similarly, the 64-year-old occupies the front page of Corriere dello Sport, where the headline reads 'The lesson of Ranieri', also focusing on his tearful appearance at full-time. Undoubtedly, Leicester's achievements to date are worthy of such coverage on these shores. Perhaps we weren't expecting them to keep Juventus, Napoli and the clubs from Milan and Rome out of the headlines in a nation so obsessed with its own brand of football.