Leicester City are set to take on Atletico Madrid in UEFA Champions League 2017 quarterfinal second leg at King Power Stadium on Tuesday night, 18 April 2017. Its a massive game for Atletico Madrid who will be favourites to go through but Leicester City have been performing miracles since the start of last season and after holding out Atletico to just 1-0 in first leg they have every chance of upsetting the odds.
Atletico Madrid are coming into this game on the back of beating german side Bayer Levekusen in the round of 16 tie and will go into the quarterfinal tie against Leicester City as heavy favourites. However since Leicester are playing second leg at home this tie can be tricky for Spanish giants who have made a habit of reaching later stages of champions league. With Barcelona likely to be knocked out and one of the other european heavyweight Bayern or Real set to eliminated it leaves an open door for Atletico Madrid to reach yet another final this year.
Antoine Griezmann’s controversial penalty goal in first leg was the difference and this game is still open although Spanish giants will be favourites to go through.
Atletico Madrid 1-0 Leicester City
[ UEFA Champions League – Quarterfinal 1st Match ]
28′ 1 – 0 Antoine Griezmann scores from penalty spot but it was a controversial decision as replay showed he was fouled (if any) outside the box.
Team News & Lineups: Leicester City on the other hand has had a impeccable first Champions League campaign despite their domestic woes. Leicester are likely to sit deep and play on counter attack which is usually how Atletico operate in later stages of the competition. Atletico Madrid will lineup with their usual strong team and talisman Antoine Griezmann will be the focal point.
Leicester City on the other hand have some injury worries with captain Morgan set to miss the first leg while Jamie Vardy, Mahrez and Salimani to play in attacking roles in front of packed midfield. This is how I expect both teams to lineup.
Match Predictions: Atletico will start as favourites and if they can get early goal they might be able to kill the tie in first leg. However Leicester City will go to Vicente Calderon with only one thing in their mind and that is not to get beaten. I expect a tight game and possibly a score draw which will suite Leicester City.