Historic early substitution! Tottenham keeper Kinsky makes two serious mistakes and is taken off after just a few minutes

FBL-EUR-C1-ATLETICO MADRID-TOTTENHAM

A curiosity and an incredibly bitter evening at the same time: two remarkable things happened at crisis club Tottenham Hotspur in the first leg of the round of 16 at Atlético Madrid.

After just 22 minutes, Spurs, who are 16th in the Premier League, just one point above the relegation zone, and have gone six competitive games without a win, were already 4-0 down. It was the second-fastest 4-0 lead in a Champions League match, with only Real Madrid against Dinamo Zagreb on 22 November 2011 having been faster (20 minutes).

The Londoners conceded four goals within 16 minutes. In the end, Spurs went down 2–5 (1–4).

With the score already at 0-3, manager Igor Tudor, who has lost all three of his games as Spurs coach so far, had seen enough. 

The 47-year-old replaced goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky with Guglielmo Vicario. Vicario is Tottenham's regular goalkeeper, but surprisingly started the game on the bench.

The move was necessitated by two costly mistakes by Kinsky. The 22-year-old slipped with the ball at his feet when Marcos Llorente made it 0-1 in the sixth minute, and the home side took advantage of the blunder to take an early lead.

FBL-EUR-C1-ATLETICO MADRID-TOTTENHAM

Tottenham substitutes goalkeeper after only 17 minutes

But things got even worse for the 22-year-old, who was playing in a Champions League knockout match for the first time. Kinsky missed the ball after a harmless back pass, Julian Alvarez gratefully accepted the gift and slotted home to make it 3–0 (15'). After the next break, Tudor replaced his keeper.

 Kinsky thus became the first goalkeeper in CL history to be substituted uninjured within the first 20 minutes. He left the field dismayed and with tears in his eyes. On his way to the dressing room, two coaches came to his aid and comforted the Czech, who joined from Slavia Prague in January 2025 for a transfer fee of €16.5 million.

Since then, Kinsky has played twelve competitive matches for Spurs, conceding 19 goals. In the current season, he had previously only made two appearances in cup competitions. He got his first taste of the Champions League in Prague, where he played four matches in the qualifying round for the group stage.