A midfielder, a 10 and a striker all in one - Atletico boss Simeone lauds Griezmann after Leicester display

Diego Simeone hailed Antoine Griezmann as the
complete player after the France star sealed a 1-0
win for Atletico Madrid over Leicester City in the
Champions League.
Simeone's men will take a slender advantage to
the King Power Stadium for the second leg of the
quarter-final tie next week after Griezmann won
and converted a controversial penalty for his 24th
goal of the season before the half hour.
But it was the forward's all-round contribution that
caught the eye before the break and forced a
Leicester side who failed to register a shot on
target throughout the 90 minutes even further on to
the defensive during the second period.
"Griezmann is a fabulous player," Simeone told a
post-match news conference.
"He is very complete. You do not know what
position he plays in. He works in midfield, assists
like a number 10 and finishes line a number nine.
"He is a player that knows this season finale is an
important moment for him and he is assuming
responsibility with the status he has."
Simeone praised his team's performance but also
felt Leicester were probably satisfied to be taking a
narrow deficit back home, where they overcame a
first-leg defeat to dump out Sevilla in the previous
round.
"It was a hard-fought match. It's a good win for us
but the second leg will be difficult," the Atletico
boss added
"It's all still to play for. We live from game to
game. First we have to face well the match on
Saturday [at home to Osasuna in LaLiga] and then
tie is at 50-50. I don't think anyone we work with
feels we are already in the semi-finals.
"We expect a fantastic night of football at Leicester
- the English atmosphere, the fans on top of the
pitch. It was a pure football night."
Atletico extended their remarkable Champions
League clean sheet record at home to 16 shutouts
in 18 matches, with goalkeeper Jan Oblak a virtual
spectator, and midfielder Koke was pleased with
the result.
"We have to be happy, we would all have signed
for 1-0," he said, as quoted by Mundo Deportivo.
"We knew it was going to be a very complicated
game, they were not going to back down.
"There we expect a different game because they
have to attack us. They are the Premier League
champions, a very complicated team. We're going

to give everything there to go through."