Atletico Madrid vs Tottenham delivered a theatrical evening in the UEFA champions League with the Spanish team crushing the Tottenham Hotspur by 5 goals to 2 in the first leg of their tournament in the last sixteen match, at Riyadh Air Metropolitano.
Atletico Madrid began the game with phenomenal intensity. It took the hosts no time to take over and punish Tottenham with three goals within a chaotic nine minutes. The defence of Spurs could not withstand the pressure even at the very beginning of the game.
The breakthrough was made in the sixth minute. With an attempt to play out of the back, Tottenham goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky fell. The error gave possession to Atletiko Madrid in an attacked position. Marcos Llorente responded immediately and made a goal to provide a home team with an early advantage.
Atletico did not take long to hit Tottenham again. Defender Micky van de Ven later fell eight minutes later in one of his defensive actions as well. Antoine Griezmann capitalised on the error and nonchalantly scored a low goal over Kinsky to increase the lead of the Atletico to two.
The initial objectives shocked Tottenham and gave vitality to the crowd in Madrid. Atletico did not slow down the pace and continued to attack with confidence. Their aggressive pressing made more mistakes by Spurs and resulted in constant pressure to the defence of the visitors.
Despite Tottenham scoring two times in the game, the early superiority of Atletico was fatal. The side of Diego Simeone was clinically finishing and very tactically disciplined in the game.
The 5-2 win means that Atletiko Madrid will enjoy significant momentum ahead of the second match in London. Now Tottenham will require a massive performance at home so that they can not lose their hopes of being in the champions league.
