Atletico Madrid vs. Leicester City | Champions League Preview

The team of Atletico Madrid found a place in the quarterfinals of The Champions League for the 4th consecutive occasion, and the team even reached the final game twice. Los Rojiblancos once again headed towards the most important match in the European club football, but the path to it goes through the sensation of the season – Leicester City.

Even though the manager Claudio Ranieri was sacked, The Foxes managed to avoid relegation and eliminated Sevilla from the competition, finding a place among the best 8 teams in Europe for the first time in their history.

To continue with, before this campaign Leicester City have taken part in the European club competitions on 3 occasions – 2 of which they were eliminated exactly by Atletico Madrid! These two teams have met in season 1961/62 in the Cup Winners’ Cup. The match in England has finished with a 1-1 draw, but the second leg has been won by the Spaniards 2-0.

In 1997, these two teams met in the UEFA Cup, but this time Atletico Madrid won twice to send The Foxes back home. So, Atletico Madrid looks like an unbeatable opponent for Leicester City.
Diego Simeone will play Fernando Torres up front, because Kevin Gameiro is injured. However, the team’s biggest star Antoine Griezmann will be among the starting line-up. The midfield of the Spanish club also looks very impressive. Simeone will probably play Gabi, Koke, Saul Niguez and Ferreira-Carrasco. Juanfran, Godin, Savic and Felipe Luis will start, as usual. Jan Oblak is also fit for the game.

Shakespeare’s main problem is the absence of the captain Wes Morgan, who is injured. However, the captain will travel to Madrid to be with his teammates and to encourage them. The Tunisian defender Benalouane will be the Robert Huth’s partner in defence for the game. I don’t expect Shakespeare do make any other changes from the game against Sevilla.

In conclusion, Leicester City really need to do something extraordinary to knock Atletico Madrid out of the competition. However, I believe they can do it, because they have already shown they can beat anyone and fight for the victory until the very last seconds of the game.