Goalkeeper replaced in 17th minute of defeat by Atlético
‘It was necessary to preserve the guy, preserve the team’
Igor Tudor insisted that giving the 22-year-old Antonin Kinsky just his second start of the season and then taking him off again in the 17th minute of Tottenham’s humiliating 5-2 defeat at Atlético Madrid was the right decision, with the interim head coach saying he did so to protect the goalkeeper.
Kinsky, playing in place of Guglielmo Vicario, was withdrawn after two dreadful errors handed Atlético the first and third goals, with his teammates Connor Gallagher, Dominic Solanke and João Palhinha following up the tunnel to offer their support.
Kinsky had slipped over for the first goal, handing Atlético the ball inside his own area, before Micky van de Ven slipped for the second. After Kinsky’s second error, in which he had kicked the ball against his own leg leaving Julián Alvarez with an open goal to make it 3-0, Cristian Romero had appeared to be suggesting that Tudor make the change. The coach, though, described the early substitution as “my decision, of course”.
