Tottenham 3-2 Atlético Madrid [5-7 agg]: Atléti to face Barça as Spurs bow out | OneFootball

A spirited 3-2 win in North London wasn’t enough for Tottenham to overturn last week’s humbling defeat to Atlético Madrid, as Igor Tudor’s men fell to a 5-7 aggregate defeat in the UEFA Champions League round-of-16.

Spurs took the lead into half-time after Randal Kolo Muani’s headed effort, and were left needing just two goals to force extra time at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.

Julian Alvarez restored parity just after the break, with Xavi Simons scoring either side of David Hancko’s header – but it wasn’t enough to progress into the last eight of the competition.

Atlético Madrid will face Barcelona in the quarter-finals in a repeat of the Copa del Rey semi-finals, while Tottenham now turn their attention to preserving their Premier League status.

As it happened

After last week’s calamitous start at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano, a bright start in North London was imperative for Igor Tudor’s Tottenham as they sought to overturn a three-goal deficit.

But despite having enjoyed the majority of possession in the opening minutes, Spurs came close to conceding after just seven minutes when Ademola Lookman rippled the back of the net – but a quick VAR review found that the Nigerian international had strayed into an offside position.

Having survived an early scare, Spurs grew in confidence. Mathys Tel, having found a way past Robin Le Normand, opted to shoot from a tight angle, forcing Juan Musso into action at the near post.

While the Frenchman was denied on that occasion, he combined with his compatriot Randal Kolo-Muani just minutes later, delivering a pinpoint cross from the right flank for the frontman to nod into the bottom corner. Spurs had a three-goal mountain to climb at kick-off – and they had just made a sizeable first step towards scaling it.

And the momentum looked to serve them well, with Archie Gray kickstarting a fine attack that ultimately saw Tel test Musso once again, through the Argentinian shotstopper emerged on top. Still, the Frenchman had time to put the goalkeeper to work once more before the break, with Musso parrying his effort away from the bottom-right corner.

But the save of the first half was produced by Musso’s opposite number, Guglielmo Vicario. Giuliano Simeone’s fierce strike from range took an awkward deflection off the head of Cristian Romero, forcing the Spurs goalkeeper to adjust at the last moment to push the Argentinian’s shot round the post.

Controversy arrived mere minutes into the second half when after a positive spell in Spurs’ final third, Xavi Simons felt he should have won a foul after a shove from Julian Álvarez. But it wasn’t given by the referee, who instead allowed play to continue – and after a rapid counterattack, it was Álvarez that turned home Lookman’s cross to restore parity on the night.

Spurs soon retook the lead though, and in emphatic style. After combining well with Gray, Simons got his head up and whipped a delightful curling strike past Musso and towards the far post, where it nestled beautifully in the bottom-right corner.

Igor Tudor’s men could have come even closer to completing their mammoth comeback on the hour mark, when Simons sent Pedro Porro into space on the right of the box. The Spaniard’s shot was parried away with confidence by the Argentinian, deputising for Jan Oblak.

But instead Spurs were dealt yet another blow in a thrilling contest when just minutes after forcing another save from Vicario, Álvarez’s delivery from a corner was nodded home by Dávid Hancko to restore parity in North London and Atléti’s three-goal aggregate lead.

A late penalty, awarded after José Giménez committed a foul inside the box, was despatched past Musso by Xavi Simons – and while it did not alter the outcome of the two-legged tie, beating Atlético Madrid over 90 minutes will offer Tottenham some much-needed confidence as they vie to maintain their Premier League status.

Atléti will face Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, after the blaugrana ran riot against Newcastle earlier on Wednesday.