Antonin Kinsky had a night to forget in Tottenham’s 5-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid.
Tottenham Hotspur’s nightmare campaign took another turn for the worse following a thumping 5-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano in their last-16 first-leg Champions League tie on Tuesday night.
Spurs were staggeringly three down after just 15 minutes, with Antonin Kinsky, making his Champions League debut for the club, culpable for two of those goals. Igor Tudor made the huge call to start Antonin Kinsky ahead of out-of-form Guglielmo Vicario in goal against Atletico Madrid, and that decision backfired. He made multiple errors in the big defeat at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, making it extremely difficult now for Tottenham to come back in the return leg at home next week.
In the fifth minute, the 22-year-old slipped as he went to play a pass out of his box, leading to the opener scored by Marcos Llorente. Then, the Czech Republic under-21 international miskicked a back pass that left Julian Alvarez with an open net in the 15th minute. Tudor reacted immediately after that third goal by taking Kinsky off for Vicario.
Peter Schmeichel lambasts Igor Tudor for Antonin Kinsky’s handling vs. Atletico Madrid
Famous commentator, Darren Fletcher, felt Tudor’s action could have long-term consequences for Kinsky in terms of his future at the club. After the game, legendary Manchester United goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel accused the interim Spurs boss for “killing” the 22-year-old’s career with his handling of the situation.
“This will be a moment that everybody in football will remember when they see or hear [Kinsky’s] name,” Peter Schmeichel said on CBS (h/t The Standard).
“You’ve got to stick with him at least until half-time. He’s absolutely killed his career. I feel really sorry for him.”
Indeed, it was extremely poor from Tudor. He made a statement by dropping Vicario and starting the 1/10 Kinsky in such a crucial Champions League game where the stakes are so high. Clearly, Kinsky was not prepared for such a big night, and his nerves got the better of him, leading to two costly errors.
Mistakes are part and parcel of the game, and Kinsky would learn from those. He is a very young goalkeeper with high potential, but Tudor’s mismanagement has seemingly destroyed his career at Tottenham. After such calamitous errors from a position that is deemed the toughest in football, it will need a strong character and resilience from the Czech Republic glovesman to come back and perform again.
Fans have every right to be angry with the Croatian manager for his handling of Kinsky and for sabotaging Tottenham’s prospects to advance to the last eight of the Champions League.