Atlético ready for resurgent Leicester

Club Atlético de Madrid and Leicester City FC have European history between them, with the latter in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals for the first time and the Spanish side bidding for a third semi-final appearance in four years.

• While this is Atlético's ninth appearance in the European Cup quarter-finals, their opponents are in just their fourth season in European competition – two of their three previous campaigns having ended at Atlético's hands.

Previous meetings
• This is the third tie between the teams, with Atlético winning both the previous contests – and three of the four matches overall.

• Their most recent encounters came in the 1997/98 UEFA Cup first round, with the first game in Spain finishing 2-1 in Atlético's favour. Ian Marshall gave the visitors an 11th-minute lead but two goals in four second-half minutes from Juninho Paulista (69) and Christian Vieri (72pen) gave the Spanish club victory.

• The line-ups at the Vicente Calderón on 16 September 1997 were:
Atlético: Molina, Gómez (José Mari 57), Frascarelli, Lardín, Prodan, Kiko, Geli, Caminero (Pantić 76), Vizcaíno (Bejbl 63), Juninho, Vieri.
Leicester: Keller, Kåmark, Walsh, Elliott, Prior, Lennon, Izzet, Parker (Fenton 70), Guppy, Heskey, Marshall (Claridge 30; Campbell 89).

• Juninho also got Atlético's opener in the second leg at Leicester's old Filbert Street home, breaking the deadlock in the 70th minute; José Mari completed a 2-0 victory five minutes later. Each side ended with ten men, Atlético losing Juan Manuel López to a second booking in the 50th minute and Leicester's Garry Parker collecting his second yellow 15 minutes later.

• Leicester earned a 1-1 draw with Atlético in the 1961/62 European Cup Winners' Cup first round first leg, and were only denied victory by Jorge Mendonça's 89th-minute strike; Ken Keyworth had given the hosts a 56th-minute lead.

• Again Atlético were 2-0 winners in the second leg, their goals coming from Enrique Collar (60pen) and Miguel Jones (75).

• The teams at the Estadio Metropolitano de Madrid on 15 November 1961 were:
Atlético: Madinabeytia, Rivilla, Griffa, Rodríguez, Callejo, Calleja, Medina, Abelardo, Jones, Mendonça, Collar.
Leicester: Banks, King, Norman, Chalmers, Cross, White, Riley, Keyworth, Wills, Appleton, Mitten.

Match background

Atlético
• Atlético are in the European Cup quarter-finals for a ninth time, and the fourth season in a row. Their last-eight record is W5 L3 – they have won two of their last three quarter-finals.

• The Rojiblancos were European Cup runners-up for the third time last season when going down 5-3 on penalties to neighbours Real Madrid CF in Milan on 28 May.

• Twelve months ago, Diego Simeone's men lost the first leg of their tie with FC Barcelona 2-1, but went through after a 2-0 home victory. Atlético also knocked out Barça at the same stage of the 2013/14 competition, winning 1-0 at home after a 1-1 away first-leg draw.

• In 2014/15, Atlético were beaten 1-0 on aggregate by Real Madrid, Javier Hernández scoring the only goal of the tie late in the second leg. Madrid have beaten Atlético in each of the last three seasons.

• Atlético have lost just one home game in the European Cup quarter-finals, going down 3-2 at home to AFC Ajax in the 1996/97 second leg to bow out 4-3 on aggregate; Simeone played in both matches. They have won five at home, with two draws.

• Atlético have won 28 of their last 34 European fixtures at the Vicente Calderón, losing only twice. They are nine games unbeaten at home in Europe (W7 D2); this season, they won their first three before a 0-0 draw with Bayer 04 Leverkusen in the round of 16 (4-2 aggregate).

• Simeone's charges last faced English opposition in the shape of Chelsea FC in the 2013/14 semi-finals, drawing the home first leg 0-0 and going through after a 3-1 away success. They are unbeaten in their last four matches against Premier League clubs, home and away.

• Atlético have never lost at home to English opposition, winning five games and drawing the other five. However, they have won only one of their last five home matches against English visitors.

• The Spanish side's record in two-legged ties against English clubs is W6 L2; they have won the last two contests, last losing to Bolton Wanderers FC in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup round of 32 (0-1 aggregate).

Leicester
• Leicester are the 50th different club to have reached a UEFA Champions League quarter-final and the eighth from England – the most for any nation, overtaking both France and Spain, who have provided seven different quarter-finalists.

• Victory against Sevilla FC in the round of 16 was only Leicester's second in a two-legged European tie. The English champions were beaten 2-1 in the first game, in what proved Claudio Ranieri's last match in charge, but under Craig Shakespeare fought back to win the return 2-0.

• The Sevilla tie was Leicester's sole other experience of Spanish opposition aside from their losses to Atlético.

• The English title holders' only previous two-legged European victory had been a 7-2 aggregate triumph against Glenavon FC in the 1961/62 European Cup Winners' Cup preliminary round.

• This season, Leicester won their first away game at Club Brugge KV 3-0, but have since drawn one and lost the last two.

Coach and player links
• Simeone faced England four times during his international career with Argentina. (W1 D2 L1).

• Simeone has never lost to English opposition as a coach, having also overseen a 4-1 victory against Chelsea in the 2012 UEFA Super Cup.

• The Atlético coach was in the FC Internazionale Milano team that lost to Manchester United FC in the 1998/99 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, succumbing 2-0 away before a 1-1 home draw. His overall record as a player against English clubs was W2 D3 L2.

• Leonardo Ulloa made 78 appearances for CD Castellón between 2008 and 2010, scoring 30 goals. He moved on to UD Almería, registering 39 goals in 90 games from 2010 to 2013, including two draws against Atlético.

• Filipe Luís made 15 appearances for Chelsea in 2014/15.

• Yohan Benalouane and Augusto Fernández were AS Saint-Étienne team-mates in 2009/10.

• International team-mates:
Daniel Amartey & Thomas Partey (Ghana)
Antoine Griezmann & Nampalys Mendy (France U21 2010–12)

Match facts

Atlético
• José María Giménez will incur a suspension with his next booking.

• Atlético's three defeats in 2017 have all been at home, most recently 2-1 against Barcelona on 26 February.

• Simeone's men are eight games unbeaten since that Barcelona fixture (W5 D3).

• Filipe Luís scored in the victories against Málaga CF (2-0) and Real Sociedad de Fútbol (1-0) on 1 and 4 April respectively, having previously gone 59 appearances without a goal for Atlético.

• The Rojiblancos have kept five clean sheets in their last seven games.

Leicester
• Robert Huth, Wilfred Ndidi, Islam Slimani and Jamie Vardy are all a booking away from a ban.

• Leicester won their first six matches, five of them in the league, under new manager Shakespeare. Their previous six wins were achieved over the course of 25 games.

• Shakespeare is the third manager to win his first five Premier League fixtures, following Carlo Ancelotti (2009) and Josep Guardiola (2016), who both won their first six.

• The Foxes' winning run was ended by Sunday's 4-2 defeat at Everton FC.

• Vardy has scored seven goals in his last ten outings for club and country.

• Slimani's header in the 2-0 triumph over Sunderland AFC on 4 April was his first Leicester goal of 2017. He added another at Everton.