Atlético Madrid take first leg of UCL quarterfinal 1-0

Leicester City somehow survived a mauling in Madrid in their first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals, only falling 1-0 to Atlético Madrid after being dominated practically from start to finish.

The Spanish side was relentless from the kickoff, spending the vast majority of the first half hitting potshots at goal. Atlético nearly found themselves 1-0 up within 5 minutes, as a long range strike from Koke hit the post. Antoine Griezmann had a chance of his own to give the home side the less, capitalizing off a sloppy bit of Leicester play to have a crack at goal from 30 yards, only for the left-footed strike to sail just over the bar.

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Leicester rarely found themselves with the ball, and when in possession, struggled to string more than a couple of passes together. Atlético constantly looked to capitalize, and if not for a couple of crucial blocks and excellent tracking by the Leicester defence, the hosts could have easily been up by a couple of goals.

The Foxes finally began to settle in as the 25 minute mark approached. Riyad Mahrez saw an effort blocked, while Shinji Okazaki was nearly able to get on the end of a Marc Albrighton cross for an unlikely opener.

What little momentum that offered was instantly squandered after Albrighton barged into Griezmann just outside the box. The foul carried into the 18, but the contact itself clearly took place outside the box. The referee had other ideas and rewarded Atleti a penalty. Griezmann stepped up to take and send Kasper Schmeichel the wrong way to make it 1-0 to the hosts.

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Koke came close again in the 37th minute, another long range effort that got the better of Schmeichel, but sailed just past the post.

With that let-off, the Foxes went in at half time 1-0 down and with very little hope of grabbing an equalizer. Craig Shakespeare rolled the dice and threw on Andy King in hope of gaining a foothold in midfield.

Unfortunately the second half was identical to the first, with Atleti dominating possession, albeit looking far less threatening than in the first half.

Leicester spent the majority of their time pinned back, but the hosts failed to get in behind the defence, and often found themselves passing from side to side in hope of finding an opening.

The Foxes did have a half chance in the 55th minute, after a long throw from Christian Fuchs dropped in front of Danny Simpson, who completely scuffed his shot from the edge of the area, only for it to find Robert Huth, whose strike from 6 yards out was blocked and eventually cleared.

Huth was booked a few minutes later for a late challenge on Koke, meaning he'll be suspended for the second leg of the tie, a huge blow, especially with no timeline on the injury to Wes Morgan.

But bookings aside the defence was solid for the remainder of the match, with Yohan Benalouane in particular looking surprisingly sturdy and making multiple crucial blocks to deny the hosts a second.

The game finished 1-0 and gives the Foxes a glimmer of hope going into the second leg at the King Power next week. That said, with a grand total of 0 shots on target tonight, things aren't looking too great in the scoring department. But with all to play for, let's all hope for another miraculous turnaround at the King Power.