Leicester’s greatest test: Do they have any chance against Atletico Madrid?

Fresh from deposing Sevilla over two legs, Craig Shakespeare’s side face an altogether different proposition from the Spanish top-flight.

So different, in fact, that it might spell the end of Leicester’s heroic run…

Leicester’s best chance of reaching the semi-finals rested on a tie against Monaco or Borussia Dortmund – two teams just outside the elite, who play expansive and attacking football. Their tactical blueprint would have matched that of Project Sevilla: soak up pressure then exploit the space.

A duel with Atletico presents a far trickier challenge. Shakespeare finds himself pitted against Diego Simeone, one of the shrewdest tacticians in football. He will not instruct his team to commit men forward and leave space for Jamie Vardy to charge into. Instead, they will play a similar 4-4-2 system to Leicester – only they have years of experience grinding out 1-0 wins, whereas Leicester have suffered from second season syndrome after their Premier League underdog story.

How Leicester could do with N’Golo Kante. Arguably, Atletico’s core strength lies in their midfield quartet of Gabi, Koke, Yannick Carrasco and Saul Niguez. The latter has attracted most transfer column inches, but all four are influential in imposing Atletico on a game. They will outrun and outplay the Foxes midfield, but Shakespeare might still opt to pair Shinji Okazaki alongside Jamie Vardy in attack given Leicester’s strength lies in their lightning attacks – even if the opposition are so well-suited to deal with it.

Then there’s set-pieces. A weakened Leicester illustrated their frailty from set-pieces on Sunday’s 4-2 reversal at Everton and can expect an aerial bombardment from Diego Godin and Co. All in all, Leicester's objective is ominous: return to the King Power Stadium within one goal and - crucially - with an away goal.

Here is what Eurosport’s Pete Jenson thought back when the draw was made…

"In terms of life experiences you use them as you go along, you have new ones and this is one for us in the Champions League this season," Shakespeare told a pre-match press conference.

"We have enjoyed it but make no mistake we're there to compete and not to make the numbers up. These players deserve this opportunity and we aim to keep that going."

Jorge Ordas (Eurosport Spain): “It’s difficult to predict what will happen, but I think it will be a game of few goals. Chelsea, Barcelona (twice), Real Madrid, PSV and Bayer Leverkusen (twice) have all not scored at Vicente Calderon in Europe in recent years.

On the other hand, Atletico have typically raised their levels against top teams, but suffered in games where they were the favourites (Leverkusen in 2014-15, PSV in 2015-16 – both going to penalty shootouts). Maybe they will suffer against Leicester…