Second leg win, but we exit Europe to Atletico

A battling performance full of spirit and passion earned us a 3-2 victory over Atletico Madrid on Wednesday night, but that wasn’t enough to overturn our first leg deficit as we tumbled out of the Champions League at the round of 16 stage.

Trailing 5-2 from last week’s game in the Spanish capital, we just couldn’t close the gap enough in the return at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, even though we fought every inch of the way and picked up a decent win – Igor Tudor’s first as our Head Coach – and one which extends our unbeaten home run in European competition to 25 matches.

Randal Kolo Muani got the ball rolling with the opening goal and we led at half-time, only for Julian Alvarez to restore parity immediately after the break. Xavi Simons swiftly replied and added a second from the spot in the 90th minute but, in between his brace, David Hancko netted Atletico’s second equaliser.

We had a host of other good chances throughout the game but ultimately, the three-goal deficit was too big a mountain to climb. There was some good news on the night though, with the returns from injury of Lucas Bergvall and Destiny Udogie, who came off the bench late on, as did Callum Olusesi for his Champions League debut.

Just six minutes were on the clock when Ademola Lookman turned the ball home from close range at the far post but the flag went up and VAR agreed with the offside call. Our first shot across the Atletico bows came in the 10th minute but Juan Musso easily saved Mathys Tel’s low curler. The French forward had another effort in the 22nd minute, a snapshot from 15 yards out from Radu Dragusin’s ball into the box, but Musso denied him again.

Tel was at the heart of most of our good moments and did really well to get on the end of a Xavi pass, skip around Robin Le Normand down the inside left channel before hitting a shot from a very tight angle which Musso pushed away for a corner. It was a really bright start and when the opening goal came on the half-hour mark, it was no more than we deserved. Of course Tel was involved, receiving Pedro Porro’s throw in and delivering a quick cross into the box which Kolo Muani met with an excellent header into the bottom corner.

Atletico responded with a spell of pressure of their own, only forcing Guglielmo Vicario into one comfortable save though before we really should have doubled our lead. It started with some wonderful footwork from Archie Gray in midfield as we worked the ball through Xavi and out to Tel wide left, he burst into the area and could have rolled the ball across the six-yard box where a couple of team-mates were waiting with a tap-in, but went for goal instead and Musso made a good stop to deny him.

As the half drew to a close, the visitors had their best chances. First Alvarez hit a 20-yard drive that flicked off Pape Matar Sarr and clipped the top of the net before a stunning save from Vicario kept us in front on the night, sticking out a big hand when already on his way down to save Marcos Llorente’s rocket that deflected off Cristian Romero. That meant we went in still ahead at the break and it felt very much game on.

However, just two minutes into the second period Atletico levelled the game. There looked to be a foul on Xavi by Alvarez on the edge of the visitors’ box but play was waved on and Atletico broke, the ball ending up at the feet of Alvarez inside our area and he smashed home from 12 yards.

That didn’t set us back too much though as five minutes later, we were back in front when Gray broke forwards and found Xavi, who produced a wonderful right-foot curler from 20 yards which beat Musso to reignite our challenge. There was no shortage of belief in the stands and on the pitch and we almost added a third around the hour mark, first Musso pulling off a magnificent save to keep out Porro’s shot with the outside of his right foot before Dragusin’s far post header went straight into the keeper’s arms.

Atletico were always a danger in attack and we needed Vicario to make a good save to deny Alvarez after the former Manchester City striker did superbly well to skip past Micky van de Ven and Djed Spence before getting his shot away. Our Italian keeper then tipped over Alvarez’s dipping 25-yard free-kick with an excellent save but, from the corner, Hancko got first contact on a near-post cross and his header hit the back of the net to make it 2-2 on the night with 15 minutes remaining.

That took the sting out of the game and we made a number of substitutions, probably with one eye on Sunday’s vital Premier League clash against Nottingham Forest. But we kept battling all the way to the end and, just as the game entered its final minute, Xavi was tripped in the area by Nicolas Gonzalez and a penalty was awarded. Xavi stepped up to send Musso the wrong way. Five minutes of stoppage time were added on and we created another chance, only for Hancko to block Kolo Muani’s shot when a goal looked a certainty. In the end, we fell short, but it wasn’t for a lack of effort.

Match data

Goals: Spurs – Kolo Muani 30, Xavi 52, 90 (pen); Atletico – Alvarez 47, Hancko 75.

Yellow cards: Spurs – Pedro Porro, Vicario, Romero, Udogie; Atletico – Ruggeri, Lookman, Sorloth.

Referee: Daniel Siebert (Germany).

Venue: Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Weather: Clear sky, light winds, nine degrees.

Attendance: 49,568.