The date is November 28th in and we’re 15 years into the 3rd millennium but all eyes on this particular date are on the King Power Stadium. Leicester City faces Manchester United in what should be just another Premier League clash but somehow it isn’t. Daley Blind has taken a corner that flew straight into the arms of Kasper Schmeichel despite seven men in red standing inside the Leicester box. But we’re about 23 minutes into the first half and the scene is set perfectly. Schmeichel has the ball, Christian Fuchs is peeling away for a counter and Jamie Vardy is standing offside in a defense that, for now, has just three Manchester United players.

It set up the game perfectly for both sides simply because they both had no choice but to win especially with the season placed ever so precariously on the edge. But for those who don’t know the story, Leicester City shouldn’t even be playing this game. This is the 2015/16 season and the Foxes are about to hit United on the counter but roll back the clock eight months and you have the same side sitting rock bottom in the top tier. They’ve just lost a 4-3 thriller to Tottenham with three goals scored in the final half an hour and it shell-shocked the club.

But the final nine games in the 2014/15 saw a certain Jamie Vardy shine as the Englishman produced eight goals to inspire the Foxes back from the dead. Yet the 27-year-old spent most of the season as a winger, struggling to play at his best until moved centrally. And that’s where Ranieri opted to play Vardy, effectively building his team on a fluid and rapid counter-attack lead by a 27-year-old who'd failed to hit double figures since his final season in the second tier. It was a risk and a massive one especially since his first season in Premier League, saw Vardy score only five goals.

Nothing proved that more than Vardy’s rise to the top after he was released at 16 by Sheffield Wednesday. The striker refused to give up and while it did mean playing non-league football for pennies, he eventually found his way to Leicester. But his first season in the Premier League wasn’t one to remember and it had many fans wondering why Ranieri was sticking with Vardy as an option. Then something clicked. Till date, nobody knows exactly what it was that clicked so wonderfully for that team. Was it the fact that the odds were against them?

The fact that they were the definition of a rag-tag group of footballers? Or was it that Jamie Vardy had finally had his breakout season for the world to take notice? Vardy’s start was sensational and it saw him produce three goals in his first three appearances. But there was something else brewing in the backdrop because, for some odd reason, with the Premier League in transition, Claudio Ranieri’s tactics worked perfectly to help Vardy thrive. And he thrived with Vardy going into the clash against Manchester United in the form of his life and the record of a Red Devil in his sight.

Not only that, his first season at the club saw score in eight consecutive games becoming the first player to do that in modern Premier League history. His second saw him break Alan Shearer’s record again and his own before setting a new one in the new age English top tier. His final goal was against Newcastle United against Alan Shearer and the Englishman had to watch as Nistelrooy opened his body and stole his cake again. And exactly like Nistelrooy, Vardy twisted and turned Moussa Sissoko before firing the ball past Rob Elliot to equal the record against Newcastle.

It was quite simply nothing the world had ever seen before and that level of coincidence was unparalleled. But as Vardy walked out against Manchester United the air was heavy with hope because the entire world wanted it to happen. Few would say they didn’t and in typical Vardy fashion, he hounded and harassed the United defenders. Bastian Schweinsteiger was irritated at the way he nipped at his heels, Matteo Darmian was on the wrong side of a few tackles and he dropped Paddy McNair inside the penalty box only to fluff his shot. The air was tense and the stadium was waiting for something to happen as Daley Blind swung in the corner.