He’s the man who guided unfashionable Leicester City to a stunning English Premier League title — but Claudio Ranieri couldn’t inspire an All Stars team to victory over a side of Formula One drivers in Monaco.
Ranieri steered the celebrity side in the annual charity soccer match that precedes the weekend’s Monaco Grand Prix.
The Italian last tasted defeat when his Leicester team lost a dramatic game at Arsenal back in February.
But his temporary charges proved no match for a team including double F1 world champion Fernando Alonso — who scored a memorable free-kick — Spanish Grand Prix winner Max Verstappen and Williams star Felipe Massa, who ran out 3-1 winners.
A delighted Alonso tweeted a link to footage of the free-kick, which he sent soaring into the top corner of the net.
The game, which raised funds for underprivileged children and was the 24th in the annual charity series, saw Ranieri return to Monaco’s Stade Louis II, where he was manager between 2012 and 2014.
Despite boasting Prince Albert II, the principality’s reigning monarch, in his lineup, the Italian was unable to transfer his Leicester stardust to his Monaco men.
Monaco’s Grand Prix, long seen as the most fashionable and glamorous race on the F1 circuit, takes place Sunday.
And 18-year-old Red Bull driver Verstappen will be the center of attention after his heroics in Spain made him F1’s youngest-ever Grand Prix winner.
The teenager’s triumph in Spain capped a meteoric rise that saw him make his F1 debut with Toro Rosso at the age of 17 — before he could legally drive a road car in the Netherlands — and then earn a promotion to sister team Red Bull just 10 days before the Spanish race.
All that — and it turns out he can play football, too.