Igor Tudor refuses to answer Antonin Kinsky question after Tottenham disaster

Igor Tudor has spoken after the 5-2 away loss to Atletico Madrid (Image: Europa Press 2026)

Tottenham Hotspur manager Igor Tudor has admitted it was the wrong decision to deploy Antonin Kinsky against Atletico Madrid in the Champions League - but he refused to explain why he snubbed his keeper after bringing him off.

Tudor deployed Kinsky in place of Guglielmo Vicario against Diego Simeone's side, who overcame the north Londoners 5-2 in the Spanish capital. The Czech goalkeeper was at fault for two of the first three goals , slipping and giving the ball away for Marcos Llorente's early strike, before scuffing a clearance into the path of Julian Alvarez for the third goal.

Tudor then substituted Kinsky in the 15th minute and did not even acknowledge the young goalkeeper as he left the pitch. After the defeat, Tudor was asked if he has had a chance to speak to Kinsky. The Croatian refused to explain if he has or not, but did admit it was the wrong call to play him in Madrid.

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After being asked about his decision to play Kinsky, he replied: "After you see what happened, for sure, it was the wrong decision. But, it was, for me, the right decision to do [before the game], thinking before because, the team, it was a change of competition. Unfortunately, what happened, happened, I've never changed a goalkeeper after 30 minutes, but, it was not easy, it happened."

When asked if he has spoken to Kinsky, after snubbing the Czech player as he trudged off the pitch, Tudor replied: "It's normal. We don't need to comment. It's not the moment to speak too much."

He then proceeded to talk about the rest of the match, saying: "Strange game. It was a strange game. What happened, we gave them three goals. After, we started good, but the problems killed us in those three situations.

Tudor did not even acknowledge Kinsky as he left the pitch (Image: 2026 Getty Images)

"Very strange, it was unusual, so it took our confidence. Then we restarted. We had a good opportunity to make it 4-2, and then we conceded the goal and it's 5-1. We apologise to the fans and to everybody."

He then quickly referred to Cristian Romero and Joao Palhinha both being taken off after clashing heads with each other, saying: "Everything looks like it's going wrong. Every small mistake, we pay. Unbelievable. Even in the situation in the end with the two players. They have this coming together. It's like everything is going against us."

When asked if he still has confidence he can turn this around, he replied: "I'm not going to speak too much. Only focus on what we can do. As I said, unbelievable, difficult to explain, it's the first time I've seen this in my career in 15 years."

The Spurs players tried to rally behind Kinsky (Image: 2026 Eurasia Sport Images)

After Llorente opened the scoring for Atletico, Antoine Griezmann doubled their lead when he took advantage of Micky van de Venn slipping over and gifting him a free route to goal. Kinsky's second error then allowed Alvarez to tap in a third, which paved the way for Vicario's entrance.

It was not long until the Italian shot-stopper was picking the ball out of the net as Robin Le Normand bundled in a scrappy goal to put Atletico 4-0 up. The only positive for Spurs was that two of the last three goals of the match were theirs.

Pedro Porro scored before half time and Dominic Solanke found the net in the second half, after Alvarez scored his second goal of the match. The fixtures are only getting harder for Tudor as they face Liverpool on the weekend.

Defeat at the hands of the defending Premier League champions, coupled with positive results for West Ham and Nottingham Forest, could leave Spurs in the relegation zone.