Source: Francisco Seco
Atletico Madrid 1-0 Leicester City
ANTOINE GRIEZMANN TOOK advantage of a contentious penalty call to give Atletico Madrid a 1-0 win over Leicester City in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.
Griezmann made light of his dismal recent record from the spot to send Kasper Schmeichel the wrong way in the 28th minute but Marc Albrighton’s clear foul on the France star was made just shy of the box.
Diego Simeone’s side are chasing their third final appearance in four seasons and, having overcome Barcelona and Bayern Munich over two legs last term, they did not always appear comfortable in the role of favourites.
Atletico have not conceded a goal in a home knockout tie in Europe since March 2014 and as they rarely looked like breaking that run.
But Atletico were unable to turn their dominance into a more convincing win and Leicester, who overturned a first-leg deficit to knock out Sevilla in the last 16, will still have designs on another La Liga scalp.
Atletico pushed forward from kick-off, with Saul Niguez having a shot blocked, but the sight of Jamie Vardy tearing after Shinji Okazaki’s punt and firing across the face of goal demonstrated Leicester’s most likely route to an upset.
Koke powered a rising 25-yard strike against the left-hand post as Schmeichel grasped at thin air, while Yannick Carrasco failed to punish Robert Huth for making a mess of a headed clearance in the ninth minute and slashed his back-post volley wide.
After 15 minutes, Leicester had registered a mere 10 touches inside the Atletico half but the visitors belatedly settled into a period of possession and Okazaki was unable to readjust adequately to turn home Albrighton’s dangerous low cross.
Stefan Savic and Jamie Vardy battle for the ball.
Source: Nick Potts
The sense that Simeone’s counter-attacking masters were ushering Leicester onto them was heightened by the manner in which they broke to prompt the opening goal.