Considering how the last decade has gone for former Leicester City and Austria defender Christian Fuchs, it would not be beyond the stretch of imagination to have thought it was all a dream.
Now an assistant coach with Major League Soccer side Charlotte FC, the Premier League winner is in the midst of a pre-season training camp in Florida after announcing the end of a near two-decade playing career just a matter of weeks ago. It was a decision that the 78-time Austrian international wrestled with for some time having held talks with the MLS outfit's head coach Christian Lattanzio.
"It’s not as straightforward because you can imagine that you still want to play and I had this goal of wanting to make it 20 years in my career," he said, talking exclusively to Mirror Football. "It ended up 19 and a half thanks to the MLS schedule."
The decision for the now 36-year-old Fuchs to hang up his boots comes after a glittering career that saw him take in three countries and two continents - with a number of trophies being lofted along the way. A number of his personal standout moments involve beating "biggest rivals" Borussia Dortmund on penalties in the 2011 DFL-Supercup with Schalke, in what was his first competitive outing for the Bundesliga side.
He was also on target as the German side earned an historic 4-3 Champions League win against Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu. Then, of course, the former left-back most famously played a role as Leicester shocked world football to lift the unlikeliest of Premier League titles, something that he understandably ranks as his standout highlight as a player.
"I think we all had the best feeling and probably in the stadium as well, when we lifted the Premier League trophy, nothing can top that. Only the birth of my children! There is nothing better than that."
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That 2015-16 season even to this day is an achievement that many can still quite not believe happened as a rag-tag bunch under the stewardship of Claudio Ranieri beat 5000-1 odds to claim the title. The pressure towards the end of that campaign could well have been immeasurable - not that Fuchs or his teammates knew of it having never discussed the prospect of becoming champions.
He continued: "Literally it was one year full of fun, no pressure, also when we were successful, staying humble and not letting your thoughts drifting away from what is needed. In fact, it was just like Claudio said in the press conferences: ‘Okay, let’s get to 40 points and then we can adjust our goals. Let’s get 40 points first’.
"And so on and so on until he just said ‘okay, we want to win it now, we want to go for it now’. I’ve never seen a press conference when he said that, only after that.
"Maybe I just ignored it because I didn’t want to talk about it but we were so humble or at least I can speak for myself when Chelsea drew against Tottenham and that’s when I thought we could make it and we were the champions."
Fuchs then followed that title success up by playing in the Champions League for the East Midlands side and adding an FA Cup winners' medal to his collection. The Foxes overcame Chelsea 1-0 at Wembley Stadium courtesy of Youri Tielemans' stunning strike to end their long wait to win the competition.
The game played out in front of a 20,000 capacity crowd as football opened up once more after the Covid pandemic. Just weeks later, Fuchs confirmed that he would be waving goodbye to the King Power Stadium and claims FA Cup glory was the perfect way to round off his Leicester career.
"We had goals to win a trophy [under Brendan Rodgers ]. It was not like ‘okay, let’s try and see what happens’. No, we had a goal to win silverware and the way we approached the FA Cup, not resting too many players and always put a strong, competitive squad on the pitch showed how serious we took it and it was definitely one of our goals to win a trophy. 100%.
"It [the FA Cup final vs Chelsea] was the first open game right? It made it triple special because I knew it was my last game and I knew it was the last time I’ll be there. So it was great to leave Leicester on a high with some more silverware.
"Having the two major trophies in England is really satisfying but winning the Premier League, lifting the trophy that moment was amazing."
Since Fuchs' departure, his former side have not been able to continue their momentum. After reaching the Europa Conference League semi-finals last term, the Foxes are now firmly embroiled in the battle to stay in the Premier League.
Their stuttering form this season has seen the pressure crank up on boss Rodgers. Supporters have displayed banners against his position at the club. Those protests rankle with Fuchs who claims that there is no better person for the job and believes it is only a matter of time before Leicester get back on track.
He said: "They have one of the best managers in the Premier League. I think Brendan has shown how he turns a team upside down in his time when he started until now to make it a really competitive, top team in the Premier League.
"If you don’t believe him, if you don’t trust him, I’m not sure who else you can trust. For me, he’s a top manager and a top, top person as well."
On the topic of coaches who have found themselves on the end of severe criticism, Ralf Rangnick did not have the best time in England having been appointed as interim head coach of Manchester United, whilst he has now taken the reins of the Austrian national team. Fuchs, former captain of the side, has leapt to the defence of the German boss having played under him during a brief time in Schalke.
"I think people had a lot of pre-perceptions when he [Rangnick] was at Man Utd," Fuchs claims. "H e is really a teacher of the game. He really knows the game.
"I have the greatest respect for Ralf Rangnick, of who he is but also the knowledge he has and I’m happy that he’s joined the Austria national team. They need somebody that stirs up the s***. But that will make a change there and inject fresh, new blood so the Austrian national team will be a good, successful national team for the next years to come."
Fuchs will no doubt go on to learn all about the pressures of modern management sooner rather than later. He is currently helping Charlotte FC prepare for just their second-ever MLS season.
Whilst he is unsure of his long-term ambitions in coaching, the former Premier League winner has refused to rule out a return to the King Power Stadium on the touchline.
When probed about potentially taking over at Leicester, he simply replied: "Dreams come true, right?" in what is a perfect encapsulation of a glittering career for the Leicester icon.
