For Cosmin Nicolae Petrescu, Leicester City showed inspirational desire and dedication when they won the Premier League title in 2015/16.
And he is now aiming to show the same qualities when he represents the Foxes in this week's ePremier League finals, competing in the PlayStation 4 section of the EA SPORTS FIFA 21 tournament taking place between 23-26 March.
“To represent Leicester, it's like a dream came true," says the Romanian. "I'm a fan since they won the league. Their ambition and dedication was amazing back then."
See: Draw for 2020/21 ePL finals
It certainly helps that, as a professional FIFA player for Christian Fuchs’s management company, NoFuchsGiven, Cosmin can get advice from the title-winning Leicester defender.
“It’s an honour, to be fair, because Christian helps us a lot with his mentality," he says. “He has the mentality of a champion and that’s what we need to succeed in FIFA.
“I’m very confident. I don’t train six to eight hours daily to go into a tournament to say, ‘Oh, my God. There are so many good players and I’m afraid they will beat me.’
“I think my biggest rival is me. If I don’t make mistakes, I don’t know, I can’t see anyone to beat me.”
'Nail-biting'
Fuchs will be eagerly watching Cosmin in the ePL finals and expects to be on the edge of his seat as usual.
“Following our players can be very nail-biting,” he says.
“There are moments where I am texting Cosmin right after the game and I'm like, ‘Come on, don't make it that crazy!’
“I mean, there are games that are just on the edge of losing or winning and, at the end, he is winning anyway. The same was with the ePremier League qualifiers.
“But he has done well so far and I’ve got to say I am proud.”
Fans in the UK can watch the finals on Sky Sports, BT Sport, BBC iPlayer and BBC Sport online. They will also be shown on Premier League channels and EA SPORTS' FIFA Twitch channel, as well as being made available to viewers around the world by international licensees.
