Tottenham Hotspur suffered another damaging setback to their troubled season as they were beaten 5-2 by Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League round-of-16 tie tonight.
The heavy defeat leaves Tottenham facing an enormous task in the second leg and places them on the brink of elimination from the competition.
The match quickly spiralled out of control for Spurs during a chaotic opening spell that effectively decided the contest.
Marcos Llorente opened the scoring after a costly error from Tottenham goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky in the sixth minute.
Kinsky slipped while attempting to play out from the back and presented possession to Ademola Lookman, who set up the opportunity for Atletico’s first goal.
Tottenham’s defensive problems continued moments later when Micky van de Ven lost his footing and allowed Antoine Griezmann to run through and score.
The nightmare start worsened when Kinsky misjudged another clearance, gifting the ball to Julian Alvarez, who calmly added Atletico’s third.
The early mistakes prompted interim manager Igor Tudor to substitute Kinsky after just 17 minutes.
Atletico scored a fourth shortly afterwards when Robin Le Normand reacted quickest to a loose ball inside the area.
Tottenham managed to respond before half-time when Pedro Porro produced a low finish to reduce the deficit.
Despite that brief moment of encouragement, Atletico regained control after the break.
The Spanish side struck again following a rapid counter-attack that ended with Alvarez scoring his second goal of the night.
The move began moments after Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak produced an impressive save to deny Tottenham at the other end.
Tottenham added a second goal later in the match when Dominic Solanke capitalised on a loose pass and finished confidently.
However, the damage had already been done during the disastrous opening period. The defeat continues Tottenham’s alarming run of results across all competitions.
Atletico will travel to London with a commanding advantage and confidence built on a dominant performance.
By contrast, Tottenham’s troubles are spiralling out of control.
