Leicester City's Champions League dream fell apart where those of Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Chelsea and Bayer Leverkusen have done beforehand - in the hands of Diego Simeone's Atletico Madrid. An Antoine Griezmann penalty meant Los Rojiblancos travelled to England with a 1-0 advantage and they were able to draw on the night to progress with a 2-1 aggregate lead. Saul Niguez first-half header meant Leicester required three to go through, yet they could only conjure up one Jamie Vardy goal as their fairy tale was extinguished.With their first half lead in the bank, Atletico tried to slow play down from the very off, taking the sting out of the game and hushing the capacity crowd with their patient passing.They didn't create much to worry Kasper Schmeichel early on, other than a Yannick Carrasco ball across the box which couldn't quite reach Koke, but Simeone would have been pleased with the way the evening began.The Premier League champions did have one excellent opportunity to take the lead on the night in the 21st minute when Riyad Mahrez passed for Vardy to tee up Shinji Okazaki, who blazed over the bar.Yet Los Colchoneros would soon grab a crucial away goal and it came via the head of Saul - aka Mr. Big European Goal - in the 26th minute, with the midfielder leaping to meet a brilliantly curled Filipe Luis cross.Over the course of his Atleti career the 22-year-old has scored one goal every 4.83 Champions League appearances, while he nets just once every 8.61 games across all other competitions. He tried his luck from distance again moments later - and why not? - before the Spanish side proceeded to hypnotisingly share the ball around inside the Leicester half, playing a large scale game of piggy in the middle all the way to the interval.In response, Leicester made a couple of half-time changes, introducing Leo Ulloa and Ben Chilwell, the latter whipping a volley just over the bar in the 51st minute. The left-back then contributed to the equaliser right on the hour mark, as it was his deflected shot which fizzed across the six-yard box towards Vardy, who finished well through a mass of bodies to square it up on the night.Lucas Hernandez - on for the injured Juanfran - then did well to block an Ulloa shot as the home side looked to ride a wave of momentum, with Wilfred Ndidi also firing just wide and with Mahrez lashing a free-kick just over the bar. Yet the Foxes lacked a killer touch in the final third, while they also looked increasingly vulnerable to Antoine Griezmann on the counter attack. In the end, neither side was able to kick the scoreboard back into life and Los Rojiblancos march on to a third semi-final in four years.
Match Sheet:
1 - Leicester City: Schmeichel; Simpson, Morgan (Amartey, 84), Benalouane (Chilwell, 46), Fuchs; Mahrez, Ndidi, Drinkwater, Albrighton; Okazaki (Ulloa, 46); Vardy.
1 - Atletico Madrid: Oblak; Juanfran (Lucas, 56), Godin, Savic, Filipe Luis (Correa, 76); Saul, Gimenez, Gabi, Koke; Griezmann, Carrasco (Torres, 69).
Goals: 1-0 (Saul, min 26), 1-1 (Vardy, min 61).
Referee: Gianluca Rocchi (Italy).
Yellow cards: None.
Red cards: None.
Stadium: King Power Stadium.
