Atletico Madrid crush Tottenham Hotspur in UCL first leg

MADRID: Atletico Madrid produced a devastating first-half display to defeat Tottenham Hotspur 5-2 in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League last-16 tie here at Riyadh Air Metropolitano on Tuesday, leaving the Premier League side with a daunting task in the return leg in London.

The Spanish side seized control early, scoring three goals in a chaotic nine-minute spell to dismantle Tottenham’s defence.

Marcos Llorente opened the scoring in the sixth minute after Spurs goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky slipped while attempting to play out from the back, gifting possession to the hosts.

Just eight minutes later, Antoine Griezmann doubled Atletico’s lead when Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven lost his footing, allowing the Frenchman to fire a low shot past Kinsky.

The visitors’ nightmare deepened moments later when Julian Alvarez capitalised on another error from Kinsky to score Atletico’s third, marking the earliest a team has gone three goals ahead in a Champions League knockout match.

Tottenham manager Igor Tudor responded by replacing Kinsky with Guglielmo Vicario, but Atletico soon added a fourth through Robin Le Normand after a rebound from Griezmann’s free kick.

Spurs briefly fought back when Pedro Porro pulled one back in the 26th minute. However, Alvarez struck again in the second half, racing from his own half to make it 5-1 for Diego Simeone’s side.

A late goal from Dominic Solanke after a mistake by Jan Oblak reduced the deficit, but Atletico still carry a commanding three-goal advantage into next week’s second leg in London.