Farewell to Europe

Tottenham 3 (5) v 2 (7) Athletico Madrid

It might be the last Spurs match in Europe for a while. Having navigated the league stage of the Champions League with style, Spurs were dire in the round of 16 versus Atletico Madrid.  Last week in Madrid a series of goalkeeping mistakes from Kinsky and then defensive lapses from everyone else put us down 5-2 in the first leg. 

Returning to London, the crowd was surprisingly loud at home. After a week in which we barely survived a tie against Liverpool, and Igor Tudor survived his day to day career as manager, Spurs had no choice but to start bright. 

We did, and the breakthrough came at 30' when Archie Grey created a fine chance that led to Kolo Muoni heading home to narrow the difference to two goals. Madrid, who had absorbed pressure in the half finished with some very dangerous chances but couldn't convert.

As the second half began our defensive openness led to a goal by Simeone. We responded with a beautiful strike from Xavi Simons five minutes later. Madrid ramped up the attack as the second half progressed, taking advantage of our need to score, and that paid dividends as Alvarez, who was sending our defenders into conniptions all night, found Hancko at the near post, where he walked through three stationary defenders and headed home.  

From there the game petered out.  A late penalty to Xavi meant we ended the match with a second leg win, which the crowd appreciated. but bundled out of Europe. This season now sees us with nothing left to play for now but our survival in the Premier League. That's not guaranteed, nor is Igor Tudor's tenure.  

Dark times.