Jamie Vardy ready for another fairytale moment as he hunts down Serie A leaders

Serie A will see a classic 'David vs Goliath' match-up this weekend, as league leaders Inter travel to Cremona to face recently promoted Cremonese. 

The billing isn't to do a disservice to the hosts, who have punched well above their weight this season, including being the only team have beaten Milan in 2025-26, but in recent weeks they've hit a wall. 

Without a win since December, Davide Nicola's men now welcome the Nerazzurri, in a game you can watch for FREE on DAZN this Sunday teatime. 

It's a game few would give the home side hope in, after all, Inter are six points clear at the top of the table and have an attack that has been on fire for most of the campaign. 

Yet, amongst their ranks, Cremonese have a man who's no stranger to upsetting the odds; in fact, he's made a whole career out of it. 

Vardy's party 

The Jamie Vardy journey is one of football's great fairytale stories. 

Plucked from non-league by Leicester when he was already 25, it was already an achievement for the striker to make it to the Football League to prove what he could do, but he went way above and beyond that level in a tale that has infamously had Hollywood sniffing around. 

Not only did Vardy help the Foxes back to the top flight - and stay there - in 2016, he was an instrumental member of the Leicester team who defied 1000-1 odds to win the Premier League, with Vardy top scoring and being named FWA Footballer of the Year. 

Not content with already making footballing history, Vardy also went on to play at the very top, earning 26 England caps and playing for the national team at Euro 2016. For Leicester, too, he'd go on to win the Premier League's Golden Boot as well as the club's memorable FA Cup win, and go down as a club legend. 

He came, he proved everyone wrong and upset the footballing hierarchy. But even at the age of 38, and after his incredible story with Leicester had ended, Vardy was far from done. 

His Italian job Getty

"I was surprised a Premier League club didn't take him," Former Foxes teammate Danny Simpson exclusively tells DAZN News, thanks to Stake.com Sportsbook.

"He'd just proved at Leicester, at 38 last season, and a struggling team, he can score goals.

"So I thought, surely bringing off a Jamie Vardy for 20 minutes to go in any kind of Premier League game, you can still get a Premier League club who would benefit from him off the bench. 

"But obviously now we know it's like people are getting a bit older and it's tough, people want the younger the model." 

There was no Premier League move for the striker, nor did he drop down a tier or move to the SPL or MLS as heavily linked. No, in true Jamie Vardy fashion, he wanted to prove people wrong again and on deadline day turned up in Serie A and at newly promoted Cremonese. 

It was an eyebrow-raiser of a move, but just another page in his remarkable story, and once again, he's written a new chapter that's gone beyond expectations. 

After getting fit and overcoming an injury, Vardy netted his first goal for the club in the draw with Atalanta in October and so far has notched four times in sixteen games, including scoring against Juventus. In November, he made yet more history and became the first-ever English player to win Serie A's Player of the Month award, thus proving he still has what it takes in an elite European league. 

However, Vardy and the team have hit a sticky patch. It's no goal in 2026 so far from the number 10, and Cremonese's early form has tailed off so much that they are now looking over their shoulder and the league's relegation scrap. 

So, not the ideal time to welcome rampant league leaders Inter to the Stadio Giovanni Zini. Or is it? 

Getty

Milan mission 

"I think it's his perfect game for him to continue in his story - he'll relish the occasion," Simpson added. 

"I am retired now, and he's still scoring goals against Juventus, and they are a massive, massive club. 

"There's a lot of experience in him, and he's been able to continue his unbelievable story.  What he's done from non-league to winning leagues, the FA Cup, England, and now playing in Italy, he's just a one-off. And there's a credit to him and his family and everything that he's done." 

No one likes an underdog story more than Jamie Vardy, and although Inter come into the game, unbeaten in their last ten, with the only dropped points a 2-2 draw with Napoli, and with the league's top goalscorer in Lautaro Martinez, it's odds that the 39-year-old will take. 

Because Sunday presents another opportunity to highlight one of football's greatest stories, with one of the few characters left in the starring role. So, who'd bet against another Jamie Vardy party happening this weekend at the expense of another one of Europe's big boys? 
 

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