Steve Walsh's classic match: European agony for Leicester City

Leicester City's European adventure in 1997 ended after just one tie, which was as frustrating as it was controversial.

We lost 2-1 to a late penalty at Atletico Madrid in the first leg and 2-0 in the second after a disputed sending-off.

The first leg was at the intimidating Vicente Calderon stadium in Madrid.

The Spanish side had some star names and a wealth of international talent, including Christian Vieri, Daniel Prodan and Kiko. But, their most talented player and biggest threat was Juninho, who we had managed to nullify in the previous season's Coca Cup final against Middlesbrough.

The first half was pretty tight but we took the lead when Ian Marshall grabbed a valuable away goal after just 12 minutes.

It came from a short corner which Garry Parker whipped into the box. I nodded it down and Marshy was there to slot it home from six yards.

More than 3,000 City fans had made the trip to Madrid and they were going mad after the goal. It was so easy to score and I thought we would go on and get a few more, especially from set-pieces.

We managed to stay in front until half-time thanks to a combination of well-organised defending and some spectacular saves from Kasey Keller.

Kiko and Vieri were both class acts. I was marking Kiko and he used to whistle really loudly when he wanted the ball from his team-mates.

It was strange but it helped me to mark him because I always knew where he was!

He didn't enjoy some of my challenges, but they were nothing like the ones Prodan was making at the other end on Ian and Emile Heskey.

Athletico stepped it up in the second half and their equaliser came from a great passing move, which was finished off with a deflected shot by Juninho.

With the crowd behind them, Athletico pressed for a late winner and the referee awarded them a penalty when Steve Guppy was adjudged to have tripped Delfi Gelli.

We were unhappy with the decision and we weren't shy in telling Gelli what we thought.

The confrontation led to a bit of "handbags'' between both sets of players and that bad feeling continued throughout the tie.

Vieri slotted the penalty to give them a slender lead for the second leg.

It was hard to take but, with the away goal in the bag, we still felt confident of getting the result at Filbert Street.

I was gutted to miss out on the return leg as I was keen to spend another 90 minutes with Kiko in my pocket, but it was not to be.

I pulled my hamstring after about 25 minutes in the first game. It was not a large tear, but I felt it again in a league game against Leeds at Elland Road.

I scored and we won 1-0, but I had to go off a few minutes after the goal because of the injury.

I never enjoyed watching the games when I was injured, but that match against Athletico was one of the most frustrating 90 minutes I have had to endure.

The first half was tight and the scores remained 2-1 on aggregate at the interval. The game started to open up in the second half, especially when the referee started getting card-happy.

Juan Lopez was sent off near the hour mark after a heavy challenge on Emile and we began to take control.

A few minutes later, the referee sent off Garry Parker in what I think was one of the most worst decisions I have seen.

Garry, who had already been booked, took a quick free-kick on the edge of the box before the whistle was blown. It ended up in the keeper's hands, but the referee decided that Garry deserved another booking and we were down to 10 men, too.

Garry's sending-off handed the initiative to Athletico, who exploited the extra space on the pitch.

Juninho scored their first with about 20 minutes remaining before setting up my mate Kiko, who sealed the tie a few minutes later.

Our European adventure was over after just one tie, but we had had a taste of the big time and were determined to make an impact in the Premier League again that season.

Next week, I'll be recalling exactly how we did that with a thumping 4-0 victory over Derby at Pride Park.