Claudio Ranieri season, Ranieri drew praise from the media for his good humour and inspirational leadership at Leicester, and for successfully building a winning mentality and a successful team environment, while also being singled out for his tactical awareness, and for frequently taking the pressure off his players. His title success led some in the media to dub him "King Claudio". On the last day of the season, Leicester played at Chelsea, who gave them the ceremonial guard of honour. Carlo Cudicini, an Italian goalkeeper who played for Chelsea under Ranieri, presented him with a special award on behalf of the club,
Claudio Ranieri further media attention when he rewarded his players by taking the team out for pizza and having champagne. The strong start of the season saw the club at the top of the Premier League at Christmas, having scored in each of their first 17 games. During this run, striker Jamie Vardy broke the Premier League record by scoring in 11 consecutive league matches, a run Ranieri compared to Gabriel Batistuta's during the 1994–95 season, while Ranieri was his manager at Fiorentina. In March 2016, Ranieri's quips once again attracted attention from the media when he stated in an interview that