Ranieri to make 'emotional' return to Stamford Bridge

Leicester City manager Claudio Ranieri says it will be "amazing" to walk onto the pitch as a league champion on Sunday at Chelsea, the club that sacked him 12 years ago.

He received a good reception when taking Juventus there for a Champions League game in 2009 but can expect a rapturous one this weekend after beating their great London rivals Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal to the Premier League title.

Chelsea players will form a guard of honour to welcome Leicester onto the StamfordBridge pitch, the club have confirmed.

"I've been with Juventus but this time is different," the Italian told a news conference.

"It's emotional. I hope my old fans are happy with me."

Ranieri joined Chelsea in 2000 and reaped the benefit of Roman Abramovich's takeover three years later by spending more than 100 million pounds ($143.48 million) in the 2003 close-season.

He led the team to second place in the Premier League and a Champions League semi-final, but was then dismissed to make way for Jose Mourinho.

Many Leicester supporters and neutral observers were unimpressed when he was appointed by the Midlands club for this season. But after narrowly avoiding relegation with a late run last season, the 5,000-1 outsiders brought off one of the great achievements in modern sport.

"We want to build a very good team," Ranieri said of next season.

"We want to keep our stars, our squad, and then we want to bring in the right players with intelligence and who are fighters."

One of those stars, England striker Jamie Vardy, will have surgery on his wrist after the European Championship finals but well before the start of the new season, the manager said.

He is expected to be named in England's squad on Monday for Euro 2016 but Ranieri expects him to be ready for the annual Community Shield match in August between the league champions and FA Cup winners -- Manchester United or CrystalPalace.