Foxes still in the hunt
‹Griezmann’s controversial penalty leads to calls for video evidence ‹Arrests of Leicester fans in city centre mar European clash
They will take this. Leicester City will take this narrow, hard-fought defeat, albeit while railing against the injustice of a penalty that should not have been awarded, as they head to the King Power Stadium for the second leg of this Champions League quarter-final next week with the tie, and this European adventure, still in the balance. Still believing. “We’re still alive,” manager Craig Shakespeare declared.
But then Atlético would take this also. A win, and almost as importantly a clean sheet – and the raucous cheers of their fans at the final whistle had an ominous edge. They know that as obdurately and doggedly as Leicester defended, Atlético have trademarked that in recent seasons under coach Diego Simeone and taken it to a new level.
Simeone had said it would be tight, that it would go down to the wire, and so it will prove. Leicester can draw deep encouragement from the way in which they recovered after a fierce early storm, overcame the injustice of the penalty and ended the match with goalkeeper Kasper Schmeichel not having to save them as he did in Seville in the previous round.
To get out of the Vicente Calderón – in what could be the last European night in this fine old stadium if Leicester prevail in the second leg – with such a scoreline is a steal, but if they are to progress the English champions will have to produce an even more heroic performance at home. And they will have to come out and score.
In fact, it will have to be even better than they achieved to defeat Sevilla – and they do not have that precious away goal – because Atlético are more hard-working, will defend for their lives and will not flinch from the task of grinding out a goalless draw to go through to the last four.
Leicester will also have to cope without defender Robert Huth, booked for a foul on the quicksilver Antoine Griezmann and now suspended, and will hope that captain Wes Morgan returns from injury. It is touch-and-go, and though his replacement, Yohan Benalouane, was outstanding after a nervy start, they cannot afford to be without both their first-choice centre-halves.
But it can be done. Shakespeare will continue to summon the spirit of this squad – even if there was a bizarre spat at half-time between Shinji Okazaki, who was then taken off, and Riyad Mahrez – as he remains on course to emulate Tony Barton, from 1982 with Aston Villa, and Roberto Di Matteo with Chelsea in 2012 in replacing a title-winning manager and leading a team to European glory.
There were 6,000 Leicester fans in the Spanish capital for such a historic occasion for the club – half of them inside the stadium – but it came on a day when supporters stood accused of appalling behaviour and mindless chanting, but also counter-claims that they were brutally treated by the police.
On the pitch, more happily, the Foxes’ tale continues. The hunt is still on. “Foxhunting”, read the headline in Tuesday’s Mundo
Deportivo newspaper, but despite the determined chase, Atlético could not quite kill off their prey as, in the technical area, Simeone hopped from foot to foot in growing frustration.
They could not, despite intense pressure, find the second goal to kill it, although they should have when Fernando Torres created the space, only to slip and hack his shot wildly wide when clear on goal. It was a Torres moment.
But then Leicester felt hard done by. The only goal should never have happened. It was a bad mistake by Swedish referee Jonas Eriksson, who had a clear view when Griezmann was tripped by Marc Albrighton and should have seen it was just outside the penalty area, and therefore only a free-kick.
Instead he gave the penalty. Griezmann had run at pace from inside his own half down the Leicester right and Albrighton had sprinted over – and it was obvious that his speed and intent meant he was going to bring the forward down. Still it was outside the area, but Griezmann was allowed to send Schmeichel the wrong way and Atlético had the lead.
Eriksson is the referee who had enraged Manuel Pellegrini, with the then Manchester City manager accusing him of being on Barcelona’s side during a tie in 2014 – and he later turned away Leicester’s own penalty appeals, with Atlético players accusing Mahrez of diving. He then sent off Leicester’s sports scientist, Tom Joel, for running around the pitch to give water to Albrighton, who had stomach cramps. It was an intense evening.
Atlético had threatened to overwhelm Leicester, with Griezmann dropping into space, creating havoc, and he did just that to tee up Koke, whose powerful shot beat Schmeichel but cannoned away off the post. More chances came, and Yannick Carrasco should have done better than to volley over when Huth’s header fell to him.
Once behind, though, Leicester dug in. Jamie Vardy ran hard but only had seven touches before being substituted, and Shakespeare switched formations to 4-1-4-1, with Wilfred Ndidi charged with denying Griezmann space. It worked.
There were more half-chances, but too often the Atlético players made the wrong choice – most evident when substitute Ángel Correa dribbled through, only to cut the ball back to no one – or were denied by Leicester’s wall of blue shirts and more often than not by Benalouane.
It became ever more edgy. A goal for either side would have transformed the tie, while Leicester were enraged by the Atlético bench apparently imploring Eriksson to issue more yellow cards.
“It seemed like they were betting everything on the second leg,” Simeone said of Leicester’s doggedly defensive approach. Now we will see if the gamble worked.