CRAIG: WE’RE ALIVE IN THIS TIE
CRAIG SHAKESPEARE praised his Leicester defence for holding Atletico Madrid to a solitary goal and insisted they could overturn the deficit at the King Power Stadium next Tuesday.
While the interim manager suggested Swedish official Jonas Eriksson ‘ guessed’ over the controversial penalty which decided the first leg, he remains upbeat about the chances of reaching the Champions League semi-finals.
Shakespeare said: ‘We were hard done by on the penalty. refs have a hard job but you want the key decisions correct.’
Eriksson appeared to be unsighted when he awarded the penalty for Marc Albrighton’s trip on Antoine Griezmann just outside the area.
Leicester goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel said: ‘The penalty has ruined our game plan. It is tough to take when it is so clear. We should have had something from this but we have to accept it. They might still have scored from what should have been a free-kick, but it’s easier to score from a penalty.’
robert Huth will be banned for the second leg after receiving his second yellow card of the tournament, leaving Leicester light in defence with captain Wes Morgan — absent last night with a back injury — still a major doubt.
‘I’ve just told him (Morgan) that when we get back to the hotel, he’s getting his kit on, going to the gym and making sure he does a session,’ joked Shakespeare. ‘We were always on the tightrope with people like robert because he’s a very competitive centre half.’
Shakespeare added: ‘We’re still alive. We know we have to be more open because we need a goal and one of their pluses is their ability on the counter-attack. But we are still in this tie.’
Atletico coach Diego Simeone did not shake hands with Shakespeare at the end but that is customary for the Argentine, who said: ‘At 1-0 our rival defended really well. They were maybe hoping to get us on the counter-attack. It seemed they were betting everything on the second leg.’