Atletico Madrid Runs Circles Around Collapsing Spurs Following a Catastrophe of a 5-2 Loss

Complete and utter demolition for Atletico Madrid at home after Tottenham failed to perform in the Champions League round of 16 first leg.

(Image credit to outlook)

Tottenham’s poor run of form as of late has translated over into the Champions League, where they performed well enough to reach the round of 16 - but that is all catching up with them. Tottenham have just 1 win in the last 10 games against Dortmund in the Champions League and 5 Premier League game losses in a row, and yet people all across social media were assuming that La Liga is much less competitive than the Premier League - so Tottenham should easily win, right? Playing at home, Atleti already have an advantage and a reputation for winning: in this season alone, they have won 12 of 14 home games and drawn once. With this, Atletico Madrid looked confident, especially after their performances in the last 5 games, losing just once against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey semi-final.

The first half was where Atletico Madrid really shone against Tottenham at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano. Within the first 15 minutes, Atleti were already 3-0 up against Spurs due to poor defending from the 22-year-old keeper Kinsky. On two separate occasions did the keeper lose his footing to allow easy interceptions for the Spanish side and capitalise, resulting in the first 2 goals by Atleti. In the 6th minute, Julian Alvarez found Marcos Llorente in the centre of the box, who sent the ball flying into the bottom left corner. The next goal came just 8 minutes after the first in the 14th minute from Antoine Griezmann, who sent a left-footed shot from the centre of the box into the bottom right corner, shaking the stadium to its core as Atletico Madrid fans roared and cheered. In the next minute, Alvarez got his chance to score a simple tap-in, putting Atleti 3 goals in front from just the first 15 minutes. In the 17th minute, Antonin Kinsky was quickly replaced by Guglielmo Vacario after his multiple slip-ups in the lead-up to all the goals had cost Tottenham dearly. The 4th goal came in the 22nd minute from a well-worked set piece where Atletico defender Robin Le Normand sent a comfortable header into the back of the net. Tottenham did steal a goal back, however, from a fast break led by Richarlison that ended up with Pedro Porro firing home into the bottom left corner in the 26th minute. Going into the second half, Tottenham had a lot of work to do to think about catching Atleti after that tremendous start from the Spanish team.

(Image credit to goal.com)

Atletico Madrid did not let the halftime break break the momentum they built in the first half. In the 55th minute, Alvarez scored once more from the same way that they had conceded in the previous half. Antoine Grizmann aided in the fast break towards Alvarez, who sent his right-footed shot into the bottom left corner. Tottenham did not give up completely, however, and kept trying to get onto goal with no luck. A slight bit of salvation was found for Tottenham in the 76th minute when previous goal-scorer Porro found Dominic Solanke, who smashed the ball into the top right corner of the net to shrink the goal deficit to just 3. This was the last goal of the game, however, and going into the second leg, Tottenham has a lot of ground to make up if they hope for a chance in the next round. Playing at home could bring them some luck, however, given their performances as of late, the chances for a comeback are slim. 

(Image credit to ESPN)

The Atletico Madrid squad were all smiles following on from the game. Alvarez spoke to Movistar about how well the game did and to not get complacent, even with the advantage:

“I'm very happy, for the win and the three-goal advantage, but there are 90 minutes to go.

“They had their errors, we knew how to take advantage and we did well pressing to help generate that.”

Following his early decision to sub off young keeper Kinsky, he explained his decision to have him start in such a game and then to take him off, taken from Sky Sports:

“It is very rare. I have coached for 15 years and never done this. It was necessary to preserve the guy and to preserve the team. Incredible situation.

“Before the game it was the right choice. Where we are with pressure on Vicario, Toni is a very good goalkeeper. After this it is easy to say it was not the right decision.

“I was speaking with Toni after. He is a bright guy, good goalkeeper and unfortunately it happened in this big game, these big mistakes.

“The start of the game was too much for us. In this moment when we are fragile, when we are weak.”

With this result and Tottenham’s form as of late, fans can only hope that the home game provides them with some solace and a chance in the next round of the Champions League.

Article written by Naeemah Pathan