Heavy defeat in Madrid

A traumatic night ended in defeat on Tuesday evening after conceding four goals in the opening stages of our Champions League last 16 first leg at Atletico Madrid’s Estadio Metropolitano.

Although we scored twice through Pedro Porro and Dominic Solanke to give ourselves a glimmer of hope for next week’s return in N17, we were dealt a series of self-inflicted blows in the first half which gave the home side a huge advantage in the tie.

Marcos Llorente, Antoine Griezmann and Julian Alvarez all benefitted from defensive slips inside the opening 15 minutes, before Robin Le Normand made it 4-0 shortly after. Pedro Porro responded with a neat finish to pull a goal back before the break, but Alvarez added Atleti’s fifth in the second half just seconds after Richarlison was denied by a fine Jan Oblak save.

Solanke’s emphatic strike made it 5-2 and we had a few opportunities to further reduce the deficit, however, overall it was a tough evening in the Spanish capital and it will need a special performance to turn things around next Wednesday.

The opening quarter-of-an-hour was hard to watch as we gifted Atletico three goals to leave us with a mountain to climb so early in the tie. Just six minutes in, Antonin Kinsky – brought into the side in place of Guglielmo Vicario for his Champions League proper debut – slipped as he went to make a pass from inside his six-yard box. The ball went straight to Ademola Lookman, he found Alvarez, who swiftly laid it off to Llorente and his crisp finish nestled in the bottom corner.

A couple of half-chances gave us some hope as Mathys Tel hit a 25-yard drive that Oblak gathered before Oblak’s poor clearance was headed in to Richarlison but he was just wide from the edge of the area. But then, at the other end, Micky van de Ven slipped to allow Griezmann a clear run at goal and he slotted home for 2-0. Within a minute, Kinsky fluffed his attempted pass out to Kevin Danso, leaving Alvarez to roll the ball into the empty net. It was the Czech goalkeeper’s last involvement as he was subbed for Vicario with only 17 minutes gone.

Vicario’s first action was to make a superb stop to keep out a header from a wide free-kick on 22 minutes, only for the ball to loop up and Le Normand was there to head home despite our best efforts to prevent the ball from crossing the line. Our Italian international shot-stopper then made a fine save to deny Lookman before we pulled a goal back, Richarlison keeping the ball well inside the area before finding Pedro Porro who produced a smart finish past Oblak. And we almost added a second on 36 minutes when Cristian Romero got up well at the back post from a corner, only for his header to hit the outside of the woodwork. The hosts should have added a fifth just before the interval when Matteo Ruggeri’s low cross was completely missed by Griezmann and Llorente fired wide from 10 yards out.

A double change at the break saw Conor Gallagher – back in Madrid following his arrival from Atleti in January – and Solanke replace Tel and Randal Kolo Muani and we started the second half brightly enough. In fact, we should have scored a second when Porro’s fine cross was met by Richarlison only for Oblak to pull off an excellent save. Twelve seconds later, the home side scored. Griezmann produced the most exquisite touch from the clearance to set Alvarez through on the halfway line and he raced clear before sliding past Vicario for 5-1.

We kept plugging away and had another couple of half-chances with Romero and Solanke both unable to get telling touches on good balls into the Atletico box, before getting the second thanks to an error from Oblak. His pass out was intercepted by Porro who quickly played forward to Solanke and he smashed home from15 yards out to give us something to fight for next week. Sadly, Romero and Joao Palhinha were forced off in added time after an accidental clash of heads in an aerial challenge, compounding our misery.

Match data

Goals: Atletico Madrid – Llorente 6, Griezmann 14, Alvarez 15, 55, Le Normand 22; Spurs – Pedro Porro 26, Solanke 76.

Yellow cards: Spurs – Spence, Richarlison, Gray, Danso, Romero.

Referee: Serdar Gözübüyük (Netherlands).

Venue: Estadio Metropolitano.

Weather: Drizzle, light winds, 10 degrees.