A debut in the Champions League should be one of the landmark nights in a young footballer’s career, a chance to present himself on the biggest stage and hopefully make his mark. Unfortunately, Antonin Kinski’s name will become infamous.
The 22-year-old’s 17-minute cameo had every negative adjective imaginable thrown at him, and it was simply terrifying and not something you want on any goaltender.
Kinski slipped twice early on, allowing Antoine Griezmann and Julian Alvarez to walk straight into the goal. After the second time, all I could do was lie on the floor with my head in my hands.
Kinsky is responsible for his own mistakes, but much of the blame lies directly with Igor Tudor.
He bet on a goalkeeper who is still young and has only started two games in the Carabao Cup since joining Tottenham in January 2025. It backfired spectacularly.
As you can imagine, the interim head coach was looking to shake things up after a dismal performance since joining the club. Kinski might have pushed for starting the game behind closed doors, but doing so in a high-profile game like this, when the Spurs needed confidence more than anything, would be foolhardy.
“Before the game it was the right decision. We put pressure on Vicario and Toni is a very good goalkeeper. After the game it’s easy to say it wasn’t the right decision,” Tudor explained after the game.
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Igor Tudor was defiant about the decision to start Antonin Kinski in Spurs’ 5-2 Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid.
“I might never see that kid again,” Lee Hendry said on the soccer special. “For a goalkeeper to be thrown into a game of that magnitude and then sent off at that stage is demoralizing. It was completely wrong to put him into a game like that.”
Prime Minister Tudor’s response to the two mistakes was no worse and showed an appalling lack of national leadership.
Not only did he quickly reverse his decision to bring on Guglielmo Vicario in the 17th minute, he also chose not to trust the reason for starting Kinski in the first place, disallowing the young goalkeeper to run straight past him and down the tunnel.
There was no brief hug, no sniff of apology, no encouragement. There wasn’t even eye contact. His answer to why after the game was equally curt, telling TNT Sports: “There’s no need to comment. It’s not the time to say too much.”
Igor Tudor did not concede when Antonin Kinski was substituted in the first half
He later added in a press conference that he spoke to Kinski, but the optics on the pitch already paint a bad picture.
Sky Sports News’ Michael Bridge, who was watching the game in Madrid, said: “I saw Joao Parinha and Conor Gallagher running to comfort Kinski. They are players who are worried about Kinski’s well-being… It was the ultimate humiliation.”
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Sky Sports’ Michael Bridge talks about Tottenham’s ‘heartbreaking defeat’ against Atletico Madrid
Chris Boyd added on Soccer Special, “Put your arm around Kinski and say, ‘I take responsibility for this. This is a mistake.’ It’s shameful to ignore him. If you think Kinski is the starting pitcher for the game, why take him out? That’s another terrible decision by the manager.”
Kinski’s Calamite was reminiscent of Liverpool’s Loris Karius’ horror show in the 2018 Champions League final against Real Madrid. He made two terrible mistakes in the Spaniard’s 2-1 win in Kiev, and his club career never recovered.
Although this was a different situation, you can’t help but wonder if we’ll ever see Kinski in a Spurs shirt again. It will be interesting to see if we will be able to meet Tudor in the Tottenham dugout.
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The Football Task Force discusses Tottenham Hotspur’s 5-2 defeat at Atletico Madrid and whether Antonin Kinski should have started the game.
His record with Spurs currently stands at 4 games, 4 losses, 14 goals conceded and just 4 points. This was not a break from relegation and he did not comment when asked if he was eligible to continue at the club.
What was clear from Tuesday’s game is that no matter what happens between now and the end of the season, Vicario will definitely have a place in the starting lineup.
The Italian has made no mistakes in what has been an increasingly disastrous season for Spurs. He was booed by his own fans and had to defend himself and his teammates multiple times.
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Sue Smith reacts when Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Antonin Kinski was sent off after just 16 minutes after Spurs lost 3-0 to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
But as things stand, he is undoubtedly Tottenham’s No. 1 goalkeeper, making some good saves when he came on to ensure Spurs were protected from further damage.
In fact, Tottenham did pretty well going forward. They took advantage of Jan Oblak’s mistake and scored twice, taking the same number of shots as Atlético, 11. They weren’t far off in most attacking areas, but a defensive horror show left them with a mountain to climb in next Wednesday’s return leg.
Some may point to the spate of slips by Spurs players on the wet surfaces of the Estadio Metropolitano as the rain poured down on Madrid. Kinski wasn’t the only one to score, and he wasn’t the only one to score either – Micky van de Ven was too.
Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez scores his third goal of the match after a mistake by Spurs’ Antonin Kinski
But Tuesday’s loss wasn’t just due to difficult match conditions. Poor team selection and lack of confidence continue to cause problems, and Tudor is under pressure to make some progress again.
Tottenham travel to Liverpool in the Premier League on Sunday, live on Sky Sports, looking to take something from other teams who have had less than stellar seasons.
It remains to be seen whether Tudor will stick around in the coming days, but his approach to Tuesday’s game raises further unanswered questions and concerns across the board.
