Atletico Madrid (Spain) (Home) 18.03.2026

Reduced in numbers by injury, Champions League squad omissions and suspension, the players selected gave everything to get back into the tie, but came up short in the end, no thanks to some erratic refereeing, but the crowd connected with the team in a positive way with the atmosphere the sort that will be required for the remaining fixtures at the THS.

When the game started, Spurs soon found themselves with the ball in their net.  After five and a half minutes, a move down the Atletico right wing produced a shot from Griezmann that was blocked by Pape Matar Sarr that went wide of the penalty area and it was played in from the right by Simeone across the six yard box and Lookman came in at the far post to side-foot into the goal.  Fortunately, the linesman had spotted the fact that the striker was offside and VAR confirmed that to give Tottenham a reprieve.  Up to that point Spurs had looked sharp, determined and energetic, so it would have been our season in microcosm if the goal had stood.  Not a lot has gone right one way or another this season.

We kept up the tempo and in the tenth minute, Mathys Tel came inside from the left to hit a right foot shot at goal, but it was comfortably saved by Musso dropping down to his left.  And just after that the ref warned Molina for taking too long over a throw in.  It was good to spot this so early on in the game, but the ref then failed to notice the Spaniard’s back leg three feet off the floor when he eventually took the throw !  So many long throws are actually foul throws for this reason – including our – but they are rarely penalised for it.

Alvarez made a snide two hand push on Sarr sending him to the floor face first which was needless, with it being ten yards inside the Atletico half and all his side back behind the ball.  At the end of the game, looking back at some of the bookings handed out, it is incomprehensible as to how this wasn’t a booking.  

Llorente too easily found space inside the box on their right to get to the dead-ball line, sending Micky van de Ven sliding past him and then to put the ball into the goalmouth, where Cristian Romero cleared when it looked like it might have gone in off a number of Spurs players who had got back.  Halfway inside the Atletico half, Djed Spence was penalised for a shove on Griezmann which became more contentious in the second half.  20 minutes in Spurs got a free-kick, the ref purposefully strode out the 10m and put his foam down then instantly proceeded to forget about it as Lookman moved a yard closer to the ball.  This was all the more confusing when the referee insisted that the ball was dissecting the quadrant for corner kicks.  There’s no point being a bit of a pedant.

Tel hit a shot on the turn after Dragusin played the ball into the box in the second phase of play from his throw-in, with the young Frenchman taking taking a pass turned around the corner by Xavi Simons and nicking it pas Le Normand, who was holding him as he burst into the box and forced Musso to keep the ball out at his near post.  The corner was cleared and Alvarez played a 50 yard ball forward to Griezmann, who, thankfully, mis-controlled it, otherwise he had two players to his left breaking forward.

Ruggieri took Porro out as he turned past him and got the first yellow card of the match.  Randal Kolo Muani’s pressing won a throw-in out in front of the East Stand off Hancko.  It was taken Short by Pedro to Tel and he played a perfect cross into the box, where Randal had acres of space and headed down and wide to the right of Musso to give spurs the lead in the 30th minute.  The goal was all Spurs deserved, but the marking by the Atletico defenders was shocking.  However, it gave some reward for the adventurous start Tottenham had made.

Immediately, Lookman struck a low shot on the turn but it was straight at Vicario and wasn’t hard enough to make the save difficult for him, then Tel won a corner as play switched to the other end.  Nothing came from it but in the 35th minute, Archie Gray drove forward with the ball, played it right to Randal. He played it on to Xavi to his left and he turned it on for Tel, running into the left side of the box, but he chose to shoot forcing Musso to a block when Gray and Kolo Muani were waiting in the six yard box for a ball across.  Three minutes from half-time, Mathys was again testing the keeper with a smart shot that had Musso going full length low to his left to push the ball away.  Alvarez then let go a shot from 25 yards that just took a flick off Sarr as it flew narrowly over the bar and from the corner, it was headed out to Simeone, who hit a shot back at goal that came off Romero’s head and Vicario, already committed, had to almost stop his dive and throw up a right hand to claw the ball away for a corner while he was falling to the floor.  It was an amazing reflex save.

The sometime over-fussy referee had a long chat with Micky as Spurs lined up to take a goal-kick and then blew for half-time without allowing it to be taken.  Bizarre.

Soon after kick off at the start of the second half, a long throw by Dragusin went a long way across the box and wouldn’t come down for Tel to get a shot away, so he laid it back to Simons, who looked to come inside to shoot when he was nudged off balance by Alvarez.  13 seconds later the same player had fired the ball into Vicario’s top right corner from just inside the Spurs area.  The referee had waved play on and VAR backed him up (what else would you expect?).  Tudor went made on the side-line, as the referee had punished Djed for the same challenge in the first half so it is all well and good letting play go on, but you have to do it equally for both sides, otherwise you penalise the same challenge.  But then, it is not surprising that this sort of thing is happening time and time again to us this season.

Two minutes into the second half and we were pulled back to 1-1 while Xavi was still on the ground just outside the Atletico box and the big screens replayed the challenge making the boos ring down in rage at the decision.  Tudor got booked and the referee just waved away the Spurs player who were complaining that it hadn’t been a shoulder that Alvarez used as the referee claimed, but his hip. 

Five minutes in, Xavi and then Porro were both chopped down with no free-kick given, play continued and Archie picked off a pass, the ball ran to Pape, who fed Xavi who laid it off for Gray.  The ball was returned to Simons, who moved the ball onto his right foot and curled a shot past Musso’s dive to his left and inside the post from 22 yards out.  It was a fine finish and one that was well-deserved after the injustice of the foul that led to the away goal. 

Soon after a ball across the six yard box heading towards Lookman at the far post from Llorente was well cut out by Romero, who managed to slide it to Vicario a yard out from goal.  The former Charlton, Fulham and Everton forward was then involved in an unseemly incident, when he was pushed form behind by Radu, which was whistled for a free-kick, but Lookman then turned around and slapped Dragusin powerfully in the chest.  The ref was quickly over to wave a yellow card at him, then Porro and then spent time writing on his yellow card who he had booked.  He wasted a fair amount of time doing this throughout the game.  He was at it again another minute later booking Vicario for dissent when he had stopped the play for a ‘head injury’ when Cardoso headed Randal’s shoulder and then got up to play on without having to go off.

On the hour, Randal and Xavi combined to put Pedro into the right corner of the box and he looked to shape a shot around Musso with the outside of his right boot, but the keeper just managed to reach it and push it wide.  From the corner, the keeper was in the right place just in front of his line to catch Dragusin’s header.

Micky made a great sliding tackle on Ruggieri as he came in to shot from the left side of the area with the corner being cleared and soon after Cardoso dumped Archie on the floor with alate challenge long after the ball had gone, but the ref let it go.  Cardoso spent most of the match holding, pulling or throwing his upper body at players as they went past him.  The problem with referees is that if players don’t make the most of these foul contacts, they don’t understand what is going on.  When Xavi and other Spurs players try to keep on their feet when they have been knocked off balance by these contacts, they don’t get the decisions they deserve.

Twenty minutes from time Alvarez ran into the Spurs box past van de Ven, then showed good skill to get along the dead-ball line before hitting a shot that Vicario did well to block at his near post, followed by the referee showing Romero a yellow card for sliding in on Sorloth and then Destiny Udogie got one for making contact on Le Normand’s foot.  Vic denied Alvarez from a free-kick when he reached up to tip the effort over the bar, only to see Hancko duck in at the near post to guide the ball in at the near post.

It almost became 2-3 as the kick off was played back to Vicario, who took a touch before playing it to Spence, who was closed down and lost the ball allowing Alvarez to take the ball into the box only to have his shot brilliantly blocked by Romero.  Atletico made subs as they were odds on to go through at this stage, but one of them let Spurs back in.  Bergvall played the ball to Xabi outside the box and he played a one-two with Callum Olusesi, darting forward and being brought down in the box by Giminez.  Simons took the penalty himself and drove in in off the keeper’s right hand post as Musso dived the wrong way.

3-2 to Spurs with five added minutes announced.  Spurs almost went further ahead when Xavi’s ball into the area dropped for Kolo Muani to hit a shot that Hancko blocked and then after play continued, Koke looked as though he had made contact on Gallagher in the box, but no penalty was given.  It was a corner however and the visitors cleared it allowing Alex Baena had wide open green space in front of him as he blocked Djed’s shot just inside his own area with the ball running in front of him.  There was a long way to go, but all ten outfield Spurs players were up within 18 yards of the Atletico goal.  Despite only just coming on, it looked as though Baena was running in treacle, as Spence caught up with him 20 yards inside the Spurs half to slide the ball away from the winger.

Time ran out for Spurs to get any closer, leaving them winners, but losers 5-7 on aggregate, but the crowd, who had been behind the team all night, gave the team a rousing ovation at full-time.

It was very odd to see the pitch being watered before kick off with the problems we had in the first leg, but it suited our play on a better pitch, with the team’s passing being crisp and accurate.  This type of game will stand Spurs in good stead if they can replicate it in the final games of the season, but while this is not the best Atletico side of recent years, they are still a very capable outfit. 

Many of the best performances came from our younger players, with Archie Gray and Mathys Tel, with Pedro Porro, Xavi Simons and Pape Matar Sarr also putting in excellent shifts.  Young subs Olusesi and Bergvall both showed good maturity when they were introduced to the action and there was a classy moment from Llorente, as he went over to the touchline to shake Archie Gray’s hand when he been subbed as a mark of respect.

Forest will present a very different type of challenge on Sunday and it is one that the side will have to rise to with the same sort of intensity and energy to ensure Premier League survival.

• Spurs conceded their first goals at the THS in this season’s Champions League campaign.
• The victory took the club’s unbeaten home record to 25 matches.