Atletico jog through scene of Tottenham self-destruction in first leg

Atletico Madrid 5-2 Tottenham Hotspur

The phrase goes that Atletico Madrid could not have dreamed of a better start to their Champions League tie with Tottenham Hotspur, but the reality is in Diego Simeone’s dreams, his side would have shown more quality to get themselves so far in front after 23 minutes.

Los Rojiblancos came out of the blocks fast, pressing high and hoping to force errors from Spurs in the early going. After two promising forays forward, the error came from Antonin Kinsky after just six minutes. His slip gifted the ball to Ademola Lookman, who gave it inside to Julian Alvarez, and he in turn laid it into Marcos Llorente, who fired low into the far corner to raise the volume at the Metropolitano.

Eight minutes later, it reached fever pitch. Llorente got a foot in to knock the ball back to Micky van de Ven, who also slipped. Antoine Griezmann was onto it this time, and he dummied Kevin Danso out the way, before side-footing it into the near corner, continuing his excellent form. Just a minute later, Kinsky then missed the ball. Alvarez was able to jog in and make it 3-0 after 15 minutes, leaving Tottenham completely shell-shocked. Manager Igor Tudor did react, substituting Kinsky off for Guglielmo Vicario.

The referee needs to explain this. https://t.co/KJTz1ohZYO pic.twitter.com/rvbCpuQgYf

— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) March 10, 2026

The Italian shot-stopper was brought into action five minutes later, keeping out a flicked Griezmann free-kick, but Robin Le Normand was on hand to nod in the rebound, as the Metropolitano soared with delight. At that point, it felt as if the game was at risk of getting out of hand. Diego Simeone will no doubt feel his side lost their focus, because in the 27th minute Spurs put together their second good move of the game. Richarlison was slipped in behind on the left, and managed to work the ball back across the box to Pedro Porro. He sold Matteo Ruggeri with a delayed first touch, and with the space made, fired across Jan Oblak into the far corner.

The final 15 minutes of the half brought a header off the post from Cristian Romero from a corner, and after Ruggeri pulled the ball back to the penalty spot, Llorente squandered a glorious chance, off-balance, to get his second. Such was ludicrous nature of the opening 27 minutes, it was hard for the tension to remain for the players.

Atletico Madrid on declare with three-goal lead

What chances Spurs had to make a game of it seemed to exit the stadium in the 55th minute. Richarlison was denied by a brilliant Oblak save. From the resulting clearance, a delicious Griezmann touch sent Alvarez clear into space, unopposed with 60 yards to run. Bearing down on goal, Alvarez showed a composure that has so often been lacking from his season, and caressed the fifth past Vicario.

Simeone, aware of the difficulty of maintaining focus, seemed to declare at that point, adding a fifth defender too. It was Oblak who was the downfall for Atletico though, giving the ball away with 15 minutes remaining. Dominik Solanke was the beneficiary of an error this time, smashing a second for Spurs in.

That was the end of the scoring, and the end of the game brought around a tricky analysis. Simeone will be delighted with his side’s performance, the pressure they put Tottenham under, and their desire to press home the advantage. Yet by the time the final whistle came, with Spurs scoring two of the last three goals, the celebrations had quietened a little. Four of the seven goals came from errors that did not belong to the Champions League stage. Three is the gap between the sides though, and Simeone will sleep peacefully as a result.