For Tottenham goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, it was perhaps the most humiliating Champions League debut of all time.
Two miskicks. Three goals conceded. And substituted inside 17 minutes.
No wonder the 22-year-old Czech player looked inconsolable as he walked down the tunnel at Metropolitano Stadium, with two teammates catching him up to offer their sympathies.
Handed his first start since October and only his third appearance all season, Kinsky endured a nightmarish start to the round-of-16 match at Atletico Madrid, which wound up winning 5-2 on Tuesday.
To begin with, he slipped and botched a clearance in the sixth minute, the ball going straight to an Atletico player and — two passes later — leading to Marcos Llorente slotting past Kinsky to open the scoring.
Then, moments after Antoine Griezmann made it 2-0 for Atletico, Kinsky attempted a first-time pass out of his area with his left foot but miskicked again. The ball dribbled into the path of Julian Alvarez, who had the simple task of slotting the ball into an empty net.
Tottenham was 3-0 down after 15 minutes and Kinsky lay face down, with both hands on his head. He got up but stayed knelt down, one arm across his knee.
It wasn’t long before he was pulled by Igor Tudor, the under-pressure Tottenham interim manager whose bold call to leave out first-choice goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario had spectacularly backfired.
“It was necessary to do this, preserve the guy and the team,” Tudor said. “Incredible situation.”
Kinsky shook his head as he walked off the field — to some applause by sympathetic Atletico fans — to be replaced by Vicario and headed directly to the tunnel. One teammate was seen with his arm around the shoulder of Kinsky as they walked to the locker room.
“That is confidence-destroying for Antonin Kinsky,” former Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson said on the BBC, adding that he had ”never seen that on a football pitch.”
Tottenham midfielder Archie Gray backed Kinsky to recover from his errors.
“It’s part of the game,” Gray said. “Obviously when it costs goals, as a goalkeeper it’s more disappointing. It’s hard for him but he’s very strong mentally and I know he will get through this.”
Who is Antonin Kinsky?
Kinsky was signed by Tottenham from Slavia Prague in January last year amid an injury crisis in the goalkeeper department.
He was hailed as a goalkeeper for the future, and regarded as especially good with the ball at his feet.
Kinsky made 10 appearances for Tottenham last season, giving up his starting spot when Vicario recovered in February from a broken ankle.
His only two previous appearances this season have come in the English League Cup, making it a huge decision by Tudor to call up Kinsky for Tottenham’s biggest game of the campaign so far.
Kinsky clearly wasn’t ready for such a big occasion and Tudor, who didn’t acknowledge the young goalkeeper as he walked off the field, had questions to answer.
“It was the right moment for me — I was thinking it was the right decision before the game,” Tudor said. “After the game, of course not.”
Why was Kinsky starting?
Vicario had put in some shaky recent performances, having conceded two or more goals in each of Tottenham’s last nine Premier League games — none of which the team had won. In fact, Tottenham is on a club-record winless run of 11 matches in the Premier League, losing its last five as it battles relegation.
The Italian’s kicking and distribution has been particularly scrutinized, most recently in the 3-1 home loss to Crystal Palace last week.
Tudor chose to take Vicario out of the firing line — but that didn’t last long.
Tottenham’s season goes from bad to worse
This sixth straight loss in all competitions marked the latest humiliation for Tottenham, which is just one point above the relegation zone in the Premier League with nine games left.
Spurs came into the match at Atletico with just two wins in 14 matches in all competitions in 2026 — and both of those were in the Champions League.
Tottenham has been an ever-present in the Premier League since the competition was founded in 1992, and last played in the second tier in the 1977-78 season.
The Champions League has proved to be a welcome distraction for Tottenham from its domestic woes — until Tuesday, anyway. The team finished fourth in the league stage, behind only Arsenal, Bayern Munich and Liverpool, after winning five of its eight games.
Tudor replaced the fired Thomas Frank last month but has lost all four of his games in charge — an unwanted first for a Tottenham manager.
“Everything is going wrong,” the Croatian said.
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