Thibaut Courtois says the ‘problematic’ pitch at Atletico Madrid’s Metropolitano Stadium could have had a big part to play in Antonin Kinsky’s wretched performance for Tottenham on Tuesday.
Kinsky was surprisingly given the nod over Spurs’ established primary Guglielmo Vicario for the Champions League last-16 first leg, but what might have been a dream night quickly descended right into a nightmare for the 22-year-old.
Atleti found an early breakthrough after the rookie goalkeeper’s botched pass out from the back allowed Marcos Llorente to open the scoring in just the sixth minute.
Micky van de Ven was the guilty party because the hosts were gifted a second inside 14 minutes, with Antoine Griezmann racing through to attain after the Tottenham centre-back had slipped on the turf.
However the dire situation went from bad to worse just moments later as Kinsky managed to kick the ball into his standing leg and directly into the trail of Julian Alvarez, who made no mistake from close range.
Igor Tudor had seen enough by this stage and made the choice to haul Kinsky off in favour of Vicario, who didn’t stop the rot as Robin Le Normand netted before Alvarez accomplished his brace.
And while Pedro Porro and Dominic Solanke each struck to make the scoreline look fractionally more respectable from Spurs’ perspective, Atleti take a 5-2 lead into second leg and are the overwhelming favourites to advance to the quarter-finals.
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The result meant Tudor became the primary manager in Tottenham’s history to lose his first 4 matches in command of the club. Additionally it is the primary time ever that the north London club have lost six games in succession.
Asked if he had made a mistake starting Kinsky, the Spurs head coach told TNT Sports: ‘After seeing what happened, needless to say it was the unsuitable decision.
‘However it was, for me, the proper decision to do, pondering before, since the team modified competition and it was, within the moment, right to do.
‘Unfortunately, what happened happened. I’ve never modified my goalkeeper after 14 minutes. It’s demanding, it happened.’
Asked why he had refused to acknowledge Kinsky because the shot-stopper made his way off the sphere, Tudor replied: ‘No, it’s moments like this we don’t have to comment. It’s not a moment to talk an excessive amount of.
‘Strange game, very strange game. We gave them three goals afterwards we began good.
‘But then problems killed us in three situations. Very, very, very strange so it took our confidence.
‘Then we start, we made opportunities to make it 4-2 after which we conceded the goal for 5-2.’
Within the intervening days, the goalkeepers’ union have reached out to Kinsky, with the likes of Joe Hart, Peter Schmeichel and David de Gea issuing messages of support.
The latter wrote on social media: ‘Nobody who hasn’t been a goalkeeper can understand how difficult it’s to play on this position.
‘Keep your head up and you may go again.’
Real Madrid goalkeeper Courtois has also backed Kinsky to get well if he’s given support he may have from those around him.
‘I sent him a message on Instagram since it’s tough,’ Courtois revealed within the wake of Madrid’s 3-0 win over Manchester City on Wednesday.
‘Ultimately, it hasn’t happened to me as much because it has to him, but after the
Ajax match here at home, I also took quite a little bit of flak.’
The previous Atleti star identified that Kinsky was not alone in facing difficulties with the Metropolitano Stadium pitch.
‘It’s mentally tough to maintain going, you would like the support of your team, to feel good again in training and to play well,’ Courtois added.
‘Ultimately, I believe the pitch is causing more problems, not only for
Tottenham or Atletico but for a lot of teams which have played there.’
Courtois questioned Tudor’s decision to hook Kinsky after his second error, claiming the young ‘keeper could have been in a position to regain among the confidence he had lost with just a few ‘great saves’.
‘It may possibly occur for a lot of reasons, you miss the primary one, you miss one other pass and suddenly he does that,’ the Belgium international went on.
‘Then the manager decides what he desires to do.
‘Possibly he would have continued and made some great saves, but well, they make that call and that’s what happens.’
Vicario will likely be expected to return to Tudor’s starting XI as Tottenham resume their desperate fight for Premier League survival with a frightening trip to Liverpool this weekend.
In line with The Telegraph, Kinsky is keen to secure a loan move away from north London having been denied the chance in each of the last two transfer windows.
The report claims Spurs are ‘unlikely to face in the best way’ of the previous Slavia Prague shot-stopper this time around.
Kinsky’s current contract on the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium runs through to June 2029.
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