Three winners and three losers from Tottenham’s 5-2 defeat to Atletico Madrid

Tottenham Hotspur have suffered their second Champions League defeat of the season and it was about as bad as you could possibly imagine.

Wow, what an absolutely terrible night of football for Tottenham Hotspur! The Premier League has been a disaster and now a European exit is almost guaranteed next week.

Spurs fell to pieces very early into their clash against Atletico Madrid and despite getting a couple of goals, the 5-2 scoreline does not provide much hope for the second leg.

Now that part one of this Champions League last 16 tie has reached its conclusion, it is time to take a look at the three winners and losers from the game.

Dominic Solanke scored another goal for Tottenham

Dominic Solanke did not start for Spurs on Tuesday because, well, who would know? However, the striker did come on and make his mark on the game.

Randal Kolo Munai made way for the Englishman and he did well to smash the ball past Jan Oblak and make the scoreline slightly less embarrassing.

This is now the second game in a row where Solanke has scored and if there is any common sense from the manager, this will be the last time he is benched.

Guglielmo Vicario benefitted from Antoin Kinsky’s mistakes

Antonin Kinsky made some very bad errors which will be touched on later and this meant Guglielmo Vicario made an unexpected appearance.

The Italian made a very good save soon after coming on and was unlucky that Atletico’s attacking move ended in a goal.

Ultimately, there was nothing Vicario could have done to change Tottenham’s fortunes on the night and now his chances of starting for the rest of the season are looking very promising.

Brandon Austin deserves another chance, but this is unlikely to happen, so Vicario is going to keep on being selected for the foreseeable future.

Pedro Porro contributed in attack

Lots of Spurs players are having a poor season and Pedro Porro is definitely in this boat, but his performance against Atletico was a pleasant surprise.

The right wing-back scored Tottenham’s goal with a really nice finish when his team were 4-0 down and he delivered an assist in the second half.

It could be argued that the Spaniard should have done better at preventing Julian Alvarez’s second goal, but he was still one of the better players in the Spurs team.

Now, let’s take a look at the three losers from Atletico Madrid 5-2 Tottenham…

Micky van de Ven continues to be a loose cannon for Tottenham

Saying that Micky van de Ven has lost the plot is not reactionary. Rather, it is a fair reflection of how the Dutchman is playing for Spurs.

With Tottenham already a goal down, van de Ven slipped in the worst possible position, allowing the hosts to easily double their advantage.

Then towards the end of the half, he was lucky not to be sent off (again) after raising his studs while making a sliding challenge.

Maybe van de Ven wants to leave or perhaps he is annoyed by the departure of Thomas Frank. Whatever the case, the hero in Bilbao is dropping stinker after stinker, with no end in sight.

Antonin Kinsky and Igor Tudor have a lot to answer for

Kinsky’s mistakes are already well documented, so there is no point dwelling too much on them. To sum it all up, he had a diabolical night for Tottenham.

Igor Tudor is the one who must accept responsibility for the Czechian’s failure, as he made the strange decision to drop Vicario. Yes, the Italian has not been great, but starting Kinsky was always a massive gamble.

The Croatian then subbed the goalkeeper, which was the correct decision, but then he refused to acknowledge him, which is a bad look. Tudor’s post-match interview was even more unimpressive as he basically just said he was not interested in saying anything.

Congratulations Lange and Vinai on finding a manager who makes Thomas Frank look like Sir Alex Fergurson!

Joao Palhinha and Cristian Romero suffered sickening concussions

Tottenham fans will be fuming with the players, but it is never nice to see them get injured, especially due to a concussion which has the potential to be very serious.

Cristian Romero and Joao Palhinha both went up for the same header in the dying minutes, leading to a nasty clash. Palhinha was taken off after treatment while Romero attempted to stay on and went down holding his head shortly after.

This could see the players unable to feature at the weekend, which is a blow for both themselves and Spurs. It is arguably even worse for Romero, as he was set to make his first Premier League start since returning from a four-match suspension.

READ MORE – Tottenham player ratings vs Atletico Madrid feature 1/10 horror show and 7/10 silver lining

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