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We’ve tried not to mention it too much, but Leicester City have qualified for the quarter finals of the Champions League, along with seven of Europe’s elite. The draw was held this morning and the results are in.
It’ll be Atlético Madrid vs Leicester City. The Foxes take on last year’s losing finalists. That’s a tough draw, but then so is every game at this point. It’s worth noting that Atleti currently sit below Sevilla in La Liga, so a win in this tie really isn't beyond the realms of possibility. Especially for a team as unlikely as ours.
Another factor possibly in our favour is that, as the second team drawn, we’ll get to play the 2nd leg at home and we saw what a tremendous advantage that can be in the last round.
Our friends at Into the Calderonhad this to say about the possibility of facing the Foxes, pre draw:
Fear Factor: 4/10. There is danger here - Leicester are playing with house money at this point and have nothing to lose - but Atlético shouldn’t have much issue ceding the initiative to a Leicester side that is more threatening without the ball. This is probably the best-case scenario.
Hard to blame them for considering us the best case. In fact, it’s almost definitely true for every other team in the draw, even if Zidane and Buffon disagree. We aren't favourites and against a team of their quality we shouldn't be. But that doesn't mean much to this group of players.
Other than difficulty, however, there is something else to take into account with this draw: revenge.
As someone who was seven years old at the time, and a huge fan of Gary Parker, I can say with complete impartiality that Leicester were robbed the last time the two sides met (in 1997) after Parker was shown red for a completely undeserved second yellow card.
The results of the draw in full were:
Atletico Madrid vs Leicester City
Borussia Dortmund vs Monaco
Bayern Munich vs Real Madrid (woooooooow)
The first leg will be on April 12 at Estadio Vicente Calderón, and then we bring them back to the King Power Stadium on April 18.