Leicester City: Atletico Madrid the worst Champions League draw possible

Leicester City drew the worst possible opponents in the Champions League quarterfinal draw: Atletico Madrid.

Leicester City are still dreaming of what might be in this season’s Champions League. The Foxes were in the quarterfinal draw and were paired up with Spanish side Atletico Madrid. It couldn’t have been much worse for the Premier League champions.

Leicester booked their place in the quarterfinals by beating another Spanish team, Sevilla, over two legs. The Foxes were clear underdogs, and as they did so much last season in the Premier League, overcame the odds to win. They’ll now be even bigger underdogs in the quarterfinals.

Atletico have been in two of the last three Champions League finals. In the last three years, they have been eliminated by city rivals Real Madrid exclusively. Atletico are formidable opposition for anybody in the competition. Much less a team which currently sits in 15th place in the Premier League.

It’s not like Atletico are even a glamor tie, really, either. Leicester could have drawn Real Madrid, Barcelona or Bayern Munich, and if they were to be eliminated, it would have at least been a story to tell the grandkids in the future. Atletico, although an incredible side, do not bring quite the same excitement.

Atletico are like that fighter coming through the rankings who nobody wants to fight. You know how they good they are, but you also know you wont get the same headlines and rewards for beating them as you would the big-name champion. It might even be a tougher fight.

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It goes without saying that Leicester City are out of their depth facing Atletico. But that’s when Leicester thrive, right? When the odds are most stacked? Another problem, however, comes from the playing style of Atletico. It’s a terrible style matchup for Leicester.

Ateltico are organized and don’t take a lot of risk unnecessarily. Leicester feast on space and teams who are open to counter attacks. Atletico are not that team. Real, Barcelona or Bayern probably would have attacked Leicester without too much caution.

Atletico, though, will be cautious. Tactically set up to stifle Leicester’s speed on the break. Not only have Leicester been drawn against a great team, with great players like Antoine Griezmann, Koke and Saul Niguez.

But they’ve also been drawn against a team that will absolutely not play into their hands. Just because a Barcelona would have played into Leicester’s hands doesn’t mean they would have won, of course.

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But it at least would have provided some opportunities for them to do what they do best. A slim chance to pull of a seismic upset. Atletico? Diego Simeone will not allow his team to fall into that trap.

Leicester City’s chances were slim whoever they drew. But this is the worst draw possible for the Foxes.

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