Tottenham Hotspur, somehow, is in the Round of 16 of the Champions League, but they sure didn’t look like they belonged there. Two incredible howlers from Antonin Kinsky, who hadn’t started a match since October, led to two Atletico Madrid goals inside 15 minutes, another Micky van de Ven slip led to another, and Spurs found themselves down 4-0 in Madrid before a half hour had passed. Kinsky got pulled for Guglielmo Vicario Pedro Porro pulled one back for Spurs, but otherwise it was 90 minutes of abject humiliation for Tottenham on the biggest stage in club football.
Igor Tudor made a double sub at halftime, bringing on Conor Gallagher and Dominic Solanke to try and cut into Atleti’s goal, but it all went (even more) pear-shaped in the 55th minute. Richarlison had a powerful header well saved by Atleti keeper Jan Oblak, and the ball fell neatly to Antoine Griezmann, who slotted past Vicario on a blistering counterattack. Dominic Solanke added a second goal late in the half after picking off a bad outlet pass from Oblak and hammering it home.
