Leicester City kept Atletico Madrid within reach as they restricted the dominant Spaniards to a single goal in their Champions League quarter-final first leg. Koke had already hit the visitors' post in the first half when the referee judged Marc Albrighton's foul on Antoine Griezmann had been inside the penalty area. Replays showed contact was made outside the box but Griezmann duly stepped up to send Kasper Schmeichel the wrong way. Fernando Torres slipped as the goal beckoned in the second half but, that chance apart, Atletico struggled to carve out clear-cut openings against a stubborn Leicester defence. Robert Huth - who will be banned for the second leg after being booked - saw a shot blocked and Shinji Okazaki narrowly failed to make contact with a low cross in the best of Leicester's rare raids forward.

The technical quality of Atletico's players was matched by a shrewd tactical plan from manager Diego Simeone that sought out the space Leicester tried to deny them. Griezmann - reputedly a summer target for Manchester United - popped up between the lines, with midfield anchorman Wilfred Ndidi and the two centre-backs uncertain who was best placed to pick him up. It was the France international's more obvious quality that earned Atletico the opener as his searing pace spread panic in the Leicester defence and Albrighton bundled him over. Referee Jonas Eriksson pointed to the spot despite Leicester's protests and Schmeichel could not produce a third penalty save after his two in the tie against Sevilla.

Almost as important might be the yellow card that Huth received in attempting to contain Griezmann. The German will be suspended for the second leg and, with captain Wes Morgan not yet back from injury, boss Craig Shakespeare will have to make do and mend in the centre of defence on the biggest night in the club's history. While the Leicester fans high in the Vicente Calderon weighed up whether they were satisfied with the way the tie was poised at its halfway point, some might have taken time to reflect on the heights the team have scaled in just a few short years. Eight years ago almost to the day - 11 April 2009 - their team travelled to the less illustrious surroundings of Hereford's Edgar Street ground in League One. Midfielder Andy King, who played that day in Hereford and came on in the second half in Madrid, is the only Foxes player who connects the two wildly contrasting eras.