Tudor comments on early 'keeper sub call
Tottenham Hotspur's substitution of goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky was necessary to preserve the player, manager Igor Tudor said after Atletico Madrid thrashed his side 5-2 in the first leg of the Champions League last-16 tie at the Metropolitano Stadium.
The Croatian manager replaced the visibly distressed keeper in the 17th minute after the Czech conceded three goals inside the opening 15 minutes, having slipped trying to clear for the first and miskicked playing the ball out for the third.
"Before the game it was the right choice to do, considering the moment we are in," interim manager Tudor said, referring to his decision to start 22 year-old Kinsky in place of regular keeper Guglielmo Vicario.
"In this moment we are fragile, we are weak," he said. It was the hapless Kinsky's first appearance since October and only his third of the season.
Tudor, who has lost all four games since he took charge of Spurs in late February after being sacked by Italian giant Juventus, said his job security was not a topic for him.
Diego Simeone's Atletico, firmly on course for the last eight, heads to London for the second leg next Thursday.
"We managed to make the most of their mistake with our pressing," Atletico's Argentina striker Julian Alvarez, who scored twice, told broadcaster Movistar Plus.
"We know what this competition is like. Every detail counts. It's not going to be easy, but we want to be in the quarter-finals," he said when asked about the second leg.
