'I'm miracle Premier League winner living American dream after beating Messi'

Former Leicester City defender Christian Fuchs is now living the American Dream with MLS giants Charlotte FC.

The Austrian hung up his boots in January last year at the age of 36 years old. His days of jostling with wingers and opposing forwards are long gone as the Premier League winner is now assistant manager to ex-Aston Villa boss Dean Smith.

In October, he and Smith masterminded a stunning 1-0 victory over David Beckham's star-studded Inter Miami franchise, who now boast ex-Barcelona quartet Sergio Busquets, Jordi Alba, Luis Suarez and, of course, Lionel Messi. Fuchs, who is celebrating his 38th birthday today, may no longer be on the pitch, but the buzz of winning matches is yet to leave him.

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After the victory, Fuchs said: “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.

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“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."

While beating Messi is an achievement few coaches will relish, Fuchs will do well to equal his current career highlight - winning the Premier League with Leicester. When he joined the club from Schalke in 2015, the Foxes were 5000/1 to win the title, having narrowly avoided relegation and sacked Nigel Pearson.

Yet, Claudio Ranieri's side defied the odds and the status quo to pip Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur to the 2015/16 Premier League title. “Did it really happen?” Fuchs laughed. “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.”