A Champions League debut should be one of the landmark evenings in a young footballer’s career. This is your chance to showcase yourself on the biggest stage and make a name for yourself. Unfortunately, Antonin Kinski’s name will live in infamy.
The 22-year-old’s 17-minute cameo had every negative adjective you could think of, but it was simply terrible and something you don’t want on any goalkeeper.
Kinsky slipped twice early on, allowing Antoine Griezmann and Julian Alvarez to walk toward the goal. After the second time all he could do was lie on the floor and put his head in his hands.
Kinsky is responsible for his own mistakes, but most of the blame falls on Igor Tudor.
He took a gamble on a goalkeeper who is still young and has only played two Carabao Cup games since joining Tottenham in January 2025. This backfired massively on him.
It can be assumed that the interim manager may have been looking to shake things up after a few poor performances since joining the club. Kinsky may have also pushed for a departure behind closed doors, but he needed to do so in this high-profile game where the Spurs needed more confidence than recklessness.
“Before the game it was the right decision. Tony is a very good goalkeeper when we put pressure on Vicario. After that it’s easy to say it wasn’t the right decision,” Tudor explained after the game.
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Igor Tudor has rebelled against the decision to start Antonin Kinski in Spurs’ 5-2 defeat by Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
“We may never see that kid again,” Lee Hendry said. Soccer special. “It’s demoralizing for a goalkeeper to come into a game of that magnitude and then leave at that stage. It was completely wrong to put him in that game.”
The Tudor response to both errors could not have been worse and demonstrated a shocking lack of public leadership.
Not only did he quickly reverse his decision by bringing on Guglielmo Vicario in the 17th minute (without even believing why he had selected Kinsky in the first place), he also failed to acknowledge the young goalkeeper as he passed him and down the tunnel.
There was no brief hug, no whiff of apology, no encouragement. We didn’t even make eye contact. When asked why he was so blunt after the game, his answer was as follows: TNT Sports: “No need to comment. This is not the moment to say too much.”
Igor Tudor did not acknowledge Antonin Kinski, who was substituted in the first half.
He added that he later spoke with Kinski at a press conference, but that the field’s optics already painted a bad picture.
Sky Sports News’ Michael Bridge, who attended the Madrid match, said: “I saw Joao Palhinha and Conor Gallagher running to comfort Kinski. These are players who are worried about Kinski’s well-being… It was the ultimate humiliation.”
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Sky Sports’ Michael Bridge discusses Tottenham’s ‘catastrophic defeat’ against Atletico Madrid.
Kris Boyd added Football Special: “Put your arm around Kinski and say, ‘It’s my fault. I called it wrong.’ It’s a disgrace to ignore him. If you think Kinski is the one to start the game, why would you take him out? That’s another terrible decision by the coach.”
Kinski’s disaster was reminiscent of Liverpool’s Loris Karius’ horror show against Real Madrid in the 2018 Champions League final. He made two terrible mistakes in the Spaniards’ 2-1 win in Kyiv, and his career at the club never recovered.
I wonder if we’ll ever see Kinski in a Spurs shirt again, albeit under different circumstances. We have to wonder if we too will see Tudor in the Tottenham dugout.
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The Soccer Special panel discusses Tottenham Hotspur’s 5-2 loss to Atletico Madrid and whether Antonin Kinski should have started the game.
His record for Spurs currently stands at 4 losses in 4 games, 14 goals conceded and only 4 goals scored. That is not in the form of beating the relegation zone and he had no comment when asked whether he deserves to continue at the club.
What was clear from Tuesday’s game was that no matter what happens between now and the end of the season, Vicario has secured that starting spot.
In Tottenham’s increasingly dismal season, the Italian has been hardly infallible. He was booed by his own fans and had to come out and defend himself and his teammates on more than one occasion.
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Sue Smith reacts after Tottenham Hotspur goalkeeper Antonin Kinski was sent off after 16 minutes of Tottenham’s 3-0 loss to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.
But as it stands, he is undoubtedly Tottenham’s No. 1 goalkeeper and when he came on he made some good saves to ensure Spurs were spared further damage.
In fact, Tottenham did quite well going forward. They took advantage of Jan Oblak’s mistakes to score twice and had the same number of shots on goal as Atletico (11). They haven’t been far from most of the offensive zone, but their defensive horror show gives them a mountain to climb in the return leg next Wednesday.
Some may point to a series of slips by Spurs players on the wet surface of the Estadio Metropolitano as rain poured down in Madrid. Kinsky wasn’t the only one, and he wasn’t the only one to score a goal that way. So did Micky van de Ven.
Atletico Madrid’s Julian Alvarez scored his third goal after another mistake by Spurs’ Antonin Kinski.
But Tuesday’s loss was about more than just the tricky playing surface. A lack of confidence continues to play a role, between poor team selection and other issues, and the pressure is once again on Tudor to show they are making some sort of progress.
Tottenham will play live against Liverpool on Sunday in the Premier League. sky sportsTrying to take something from another team that didn’t have a great season.
It’s yet to be seen whether Tudor will still be there in the coming days, but his approach to Tuesday’s game overall raises more questions and concerns that remain unanswered.
