Messi one of many stars to tweet congratulations for Leicester's victory

Lionel Messi spoke for the great and the good of world soccer, not to mention millions of grassroots fans, when he acclaimed Leicester City’s extraordinary Premier League triumph by tweeting: “The reason why we all love football. Congratulations”.

Fifa president Gianni Infantino echoed the most common and apt description of the “beautiful story” as a “fairytale” after the 5,000-1 outsiders, who performed a miraculous escape from relegation last season, were crowned champions on Monday night.

Real Madrid’s former Spurs player Gareth Bale, whose side are battling with Messi’s Barcelona and Atletico Madrid for the Spanish title, took a similar view.