- Leicester City beat Preston North End 3-0 on Monday evening
- The three points confirmed City’s status as champions in the Sky Bet Championship
- Jamie Vardy got the party started at Deepdale
- We stuck together and now we have been rewarded, says Ricardo Pereira
The party celebrations were taken up a notch earlier this week when City’s convincing 3-0 win over Preston meant they would be going into the Premier League as champions, having already achieved promotion last Friday night without kicking a ball, as Leeds United fell to a QPR defeat.
Among all the pitchside celebrations, which lasted long after the full-time whistle, Pereira gathered his emotions to explain what the moment means to the team.
“It’s really good,” the Portuguese defender stated. “It’s what we’ve been working towards since the start of the season. It wasn’t easy, sometimes we made it look easy, but it wasn’t. But we knew the goal even when things weren’t going our way, and we stuck together; now we are rewarded.
“Everyone at the Club, from the kitman, the kitchen staff, the ones who play less, and the fans... it’s ours now to enjoy.”
Getting promoted from the second division is never an easy task with the level of competitiveness in the league but Leicester have managed to achieve the crown, with a game to spare.
Going on to talk about the influence that Enzo Maresca has had on the Foxes, the right-back explained how he deserves all the praise, and was happy to play such a big part this term.
“He (Maresca) has a game idea, that was clear from the first day,” Pereira continued. “He made things look easy and I think he is the maestro of everything. He deserves everything he’s getting.
“My personal goal was playing as much as I could, and that was good for me to do my best. I was waiting for the opportunity for a long time.
“They (the fans) were always with us, even in the difficult times. Sometimes for us, we need to stay balanced and not be so happy when we win, and not too disappointed when we lose because we know what we do every week, so we always stay together.”
The promotion party now returns to the East Midlands where Leicester will be presented with the trophy on Sunday afternoon at King Power Stadium.
Before that, however, City must face a Blackburn Rovers side fighting for survival in the league, and Ricardo wants to remain focused on the challenge and end on a high, which could see the Foxes hit 100 points.
The No.21 added: “Now we just need to enjoy today before the last game at home which will be great because we’ve already secured first place. Of course, we want to win to finish well but right now everyone is happy.”