Antonin Kinski endured an unforgettable Champions League debut, however two errors value Tottenham 5-2 within the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie towards Atletico Madrid.
Kinski made two errors within the opening quarter-hour towards Metropolitano, conceding three objectives, however was changed by Guglielmo Vicario simply two minutes later.
However even with Vicario in between, Spurs had been unable to get better from the early harm, leaving them with a mountain to climb in subsequent week’s second leg at residence.
Igor Tudor’s aspect had been placed on the again foot within the sixth minute when Kinski’s ill-timed slip as he tried to clear the ball gave Julián Álvarez the ball and Marcos Llorente, teed up by the Argentine, fired into the underside left nook.
Antoine Griezmann’s aim within the 14th minute doubled Atlético’s benefit, and Kinski’s depressing begin ended lower than a minute later when a easy cross to Kevin Danso was miskicked straight to Alvarez, who pressured the ball into the aim.
Vicario was then launched to switch Kinski, and 5 minutes into the sport Robin Le Normand collected the ball with a header simply over the aim line.
Spurs hit again 4 minutes later with a superb strike from Pedro Polo, and returning captain Cristian Romero headed the ball towards the submit from a nook kick simply earlier than the break.
Nonetheless, simply after Richarlison’s header was blocked by Jan Oblak, Alvarez was taken out by Griezmann’s deft contact and wasted no time in getting previous Vicario, restoring his aspect’s four-goal benefit 10 minutes after the restart.
Nonetheless, Spurs’ second-half efficiency paid off as they scored with 14 minutes remaining. This time Oblak’s wayward cross was intercepted by Polo, and substitute Dominic Solanke smashed the ball into the close to submit for Madrid to attain.
Huge win at residence pic.twitter.com/B5DM0UdIQg
— Atletico Madrid (@atletienglish) March 10, 2026
Knowledge report: Alvarez leads Atletico on the rise
Atletico have received two of the final three last-16 ties towards English golf equipment within the Champions League and shall be assured of doing the identical right here after brutally punishing Spurs’ error-filled first half.
They turned the primary crew within the membership’s historical past to attain 4 objectives within the first half of a Champions League match, and solely the second Spanish crew to take action within the knockout levels, after rivals Barcelona.
They usually had been led by the spectacular Alvarez, who’s certainly one of solely 5 gamers to attain 30 or extra objectives since his Champions League debut in 2022, becoming a member of Kylian Mbappé (40), Vinicius Junior (39), Harry Kane (36) and Erling Haaland (35), with Atlético’s quantity 19 now carrying 30.
Spurs, however, have misplaced six consecutive video games in all competitions for the primary time of their historical past, and whereas there may be nothing to complain about, their complete anticipated objectives (xG) from 11 pictures was 1.41, in comparison with Atletico’s 3.12 from the identical variety of makes an attempt.
