#2 Atletico’s know-how and experience proves too much
When Vardy pulled a goal back for Leicester, it would have been very easy for the opposition to panic. The crowd had just dragged the decibel levels up a few notches and the Leicester players were going to feed off that. But Atletico did not panic. Diego Simeone’s side know their strengths a little too well, and they stuck to those.
Unlike Sevilla who collapsed at the King Power Stadium in the Round of 16, Atletico are a team built on a solid spine. Diego Godin and Stefan Savic were never going to be breached three times, especially with Gabi sitting in front of them and snuffing out Leicester attacks.
The start of the game saw Atleti allow Leicester to have the ball and just stay in their defensive shape. When they did have the ball, they slowed the game down and took the sting out of it. Midway through the first half, they struck the killer blow. A terrific team goal too, it was.
They got up the field quickly, and when the ball fell to Filipe Luis, you still felt Leicester had enough bodies in the box to deal with what the Brazilian delivered. But what he delivered was inch perfect for Saul. The young Spaniard barely had to get off his feet to head it, and what a header it was too!
It was a textbook header as Saul headed it across the goal from the back-post and gave Schmeichel no chance. That goal effectively killed off Leicester’s chances, despite all the pluck and fight they showed after that.
