Real Football Man All of the Football, All of the time
Tonight brings us the second of two Champions League nights this week and domestic interest now picks up as Leicester make the trip to Madrid to face Diego Simeone’s Atletico side at The Vicente Calderon.
Craig Shakespeare’s 100% record while in charge of Leicester has gone after defeat on Sunday away at Everton, the encounter at Goodison Park saw Shakespeare take the opportunity to rest players with this very game in mind.
You would get the feeling that Leicester will all but stay up this season and bar the additional prize money that comes with finishing higher up the table there is very little difference between whether they finish 9th or 17th.
Therefore it made logical sense for Leicester boss Craig Shakespeare to make the necessary changes for Tonight’s game. He will not however have a full strength side with captain Wes Morgan set to miss out through injury.
That is undoubtedly going to be a blow for The Foxes especially with Morgan scoring in the second leg of their Round of 16 tie against Sevilla which put them on their way to this pairing with Atletico Madrid this evening.
And for Leicester fans it’s probably somewhat of a blow that they have been paired up with Diego Simeone’s men. Firstly they have been deprived of the big tie against the likes of Bayern, Barcelona and Real and also they arguably have the hardest draw of the lot.
That is because Atletico certainly will not pander to Leicester’s counter attacking style as that is the kind of game that they will look to play themselves and that is going to somewhat neutralise what attacking threat Leicester were looking to pose.
With two teams with similar playing styles it means that the game is expected to be tight but that is something that will suit Atletico down to the ground. The Vicente Calderon is something of a fortress especially on European nights and manager Diego Simeone will be hoping that is the case Tonight.
They come into this game off the back of a draw in the Madrid derby thanks to Antoine Griezmann’s late equaliser. That point solidifies their third place in La Liga this season in what has been by their own standards disappointing due to the fact they have not been able to keep pace with both Real Madrid and Barcelona at the top of the table.
Some say that this is the end of the cycle for Atletico under Simeone and if that is the case then they would love to finally win the trophy that has eluded them twice in the past three seasons before the Argentine possibly bows out at the end of the season.
Whether that is to be the case remains to be seen but they will certainly look to take a first leg advantage to the East Midlands for the return leg next Tuesday. The key for Leicester like in the previous round will be to make sure they at least get a crucial away goal to take back to The King Power Stadium.
It was Jamie Vardy’s away goal that changed the complexion of the tie against Sevilla in the Round of 16. Leicester looked dead and buried at 2-0 down during the 1st leg but a late Vardy strike turned the tie on its head.
They perhaps rode their luck during the two encounters as Sevilla missed two penalties – one in each leg. I guess that should not be a discredit to Kasper Schmeichel who was one of it not the stand out player in the previous round.
You get the feeling he is going to have a busy night tonight if he is to keep a clean sheet and his Atletico counterpart Jan Oblak who was impressive on Saturday with Madrid derby will once again look to turn in another impressive performance on the biggest stage.
Can Leicester get anything from this, it certainly will not be easy and if they are to go down then they need to go down fighting. Whether that happens I’m not sure as I don’t see where the chances will come tonight. I think it’s going to be a low scoring win for Atletico but a clean sheet at the same time.
