The Independent

Tottenham Hotspur will bid to arrest their remarkable collapse in form with a trip to Atletico in the Champions League.

Igor Tudor’s side may be facing the ignominy of a relegation battle but so far they have performed significantly better than expected in Europe, as they did last season under Ange Postecoglou, winning the Europa League even as they finished 17th domestically.

Now in the Champions League, they finished fourth in the league phase to progress automatically to the last 16, and now take on Diego Simeone’s Atletico in the first leg of their last-16 tie.

After a run of five straight defeats in all tournaments and 11 top-flight games without a win, Tottenham will be desperate to turn things around.

And while leaky Atletico may not be the toughest of opponents, having conceded five goals in their last two games, they are at least capable of playing at home, with four straight wins on the board. Here’s everything you need to know ahead of the match.

When is Atletico v Tottenham?

Atletico host Tottenham at the Riyadh Air Metropolitano in Madrid on Tuesday 10 March, with kick-off at 8pm GMT.

How can I watch it?

Viewers in the UK can watch the game on TNT Sports 1 and subscription service discovery+, with TNT Sports coverage beginning at 7pm GMT.

Team news

The positive news for Tottenham is they may be bolstered by some returns from injury: Djed Spence may be fit to feature after a calf injury, and Radu Dragusin, who missed the previous game with a knock, will be assessed, although the game may come too soon for Destiny Udogie.

Micky van de Ven - who was sent off against Crystal Palace midweek, precipitating a complete Spurs collapse - will be available, and Cristian Romero is another to have served a suspension domestically and is eligible to play.

Simeone may be without January signing Rodrigo Mendoza, who picked up an ankle issue in their previous game against Real Sociedad, but other than that Atletico are expected to field a full-strength side.

Predicted line-ups

Atletico XI: Oblak, Llorente, Le Normand, Hancko, Ruggeri, Simeone, Koke, Cardoso, Gonzalez, Sorloth, Alvarez

For Tottenham Hotspur, it is a return that underlines a sense of wasted possibilities. They are back in Spain for the first time since May’s Europa League final ended their 17-year for a trophy, back at the Metropolitano where, in 2019, they had hoped to win the Champions League for the first time in their history.

And yet, somehow, this may be the least important game of their season. A far greater crisis has enveloped Tottenham. Atletico Madrid could represent an alternative reality for them, a club who have had their own unhappy experience of Champions League finals, who usually finish behind the superclubs in their own country, but who are nevertheless constants in the most prestigious and profitable continental competition.

For Tottenham, the probability is that this is their last Champions League tie for quite some time. Such midweeks may instead be filled by the kind of clubs who will clash elsewhere on Tuesday: Portsmouth and Swansea, Millwall and Derby, Wrexham and Hull; unless, that is, one of them takes their place in the Premier League.

Now, elimination would be far less painful than relegation. Thomas Frank, the manager appointed to improve upon the Europa League winner Ange Postecoglou’s increasingly awful Premier League record, instead prospered in the Champions League, aided by a distinctly friendly fixture list.

Under other circumstances, though, Tottenham could appear favourites to knock out Atletico; after all, they finished 10 places ahead of them in the league stage.

The sight of Spurs in fourth could have looked like the successful culmination of Daniel Levy’s chairmanship; with Tottenham established among the superpowers, punching above their weight, even if their position carried no prize.

And yet it has come to look like an irrelevant achievement: forget looking down on Real Madrid, Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain in the standings, Spurs could do with seeing at least one of Leeds, Nottingham Forest and West Ham in their rear view mirror come the end of May.

The biggest match of their March will not be either leg against Atletico, nor Sunday’s trip to Liverpool, their conquerors in that 2019 final, but the following week’s meeting with Forest. For the hapless Igor Tudor, it may be a question of whether he gets to see it from the dugout. This could be the free hit for a manager who is winless in his new job, who might note his penultimate result in his last one was a 1-0 defeat in Madrid, albeit to Real, and who may fear history repeats itself.

And so clubs who might have looked comparable instead seem opposites. Tudor is the 10th Tottenham manager of Diego Simeone’s time at Atletico. There will probably be an 11th and a 12th; his old Argentina teammate Mauricio Pochettino, the man who took Tottenham to the Metropolitano in 2019, may be less likely to sign up for a schedule that could include the Kassam Stadium next season.

Atletico have stability, a gleaming stadium, Champions League revenues reinvested in the team. This was how it was supposed to look for Spurs. Since their 2016 Champions League final defeat, Atleti have made the quarter-finals four times. Since the 2019 final, all Spurs have to show for their experiences of the premier continental competition are two demoralising last-16 exits.

And if not all of the €400m Simeone has spent in the last 20 months has brought success, Tottenham at least enabled him to recoup his investment in Conor Gallagher. Spurs have spent more in the same time to regress alarmingly.

For Gallagher, yet to win in the white of Spurs, a European debut for his new club comes against his old. For Cristian Romero, a return after a four-match domestic ban comes against the club who seemed interested in signing him last summer. Romero could look a classic Simeone player but David Hancko, the centre-back Atletico bought instead, has a solitary yellow card this season. There may be a lesson for Romero there.

And if the Argentine and Micky van de Ven underpinned the Europa League triumph last season, they are reunited when, remarkably, each has been sent off in his last appearance, and while wearing the captain’s armband. It means Van de Ven cannot play at Anfield on Sunday. Tudor’s fondness for 3-4-3 means it is far from certain that Romero and Van de Ven will be a duo in the Metropolitano anyway.

But if it represents the place where the Pochettino project could have reached its glorious culmination – and, instead, arguably, brought the start of a decline – this is a fixture with distant resonance. Propelled by Jimmy Greaves’s goals, captained by Danny Blanchflower, Spurs beat Atletico 5-1 in the Cup Winners’ Cup final in 1963. They have not met since, whereas when both signed up for the Super League, they intended to meet each other on an annual basis.

In a different context, it would be pertinent to note that the 2027 Champions League final is being played at the Metropolitano. Tottenham’s only victories in 2026 have been in Europe, and their only route back into the Champions League is by winning it.

Even the most optimistic could scarcely harbour such hopes. Seven years on from their lone European Cup final, 10 months after their first European trophy since 1984, one possibility is their next final being in the Championship play-offs.

Manchester City midfielder Rodri has been handed an £80,000 fine and a warning over his future conduct after making critical comments about officiating following his side’s draw with Tottenham last month.

The Spain international faced a charge from the Football Association on 13 February, nearly two weeks after the 2-2 stalemate at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on 1 February.

Rodri had publicly stated that referees "have to be neutral" in an interview with Australian broadcaster Stan Sport.

After admitting the charge, an independent commission imposed the financial penalty and issued a warning.

The commission’s written reasons confirmed a unanimous decision against a sporting sanction, such as a playing ban, noting that the FA had not sought such a punishment in its submission.

Rodri’s rant came after he believed City should have been awarded a free-kick for a foul on Marc Guehi by Dominic Solanke before Tottenham’s first goal as the hosts battled back from two goals down to earn a point.

Rodri said: "I know we won too much and the people don’t want us to win but the referee has to be neutral and for me honestly, it’s not fair.

“It’s not fair because we work so hard in these situations and now to make these decisions, we have to move on.

“Of course you need to come back but at the end, when everything is finished, we are frustrated because it’s so clear, the foul."

Rodri avoiding a ban means that he is set to be available for City’s title run-in as they try to chase down leaders Arsenal.

Pep Guardiola’s men are currently seven points behind the Gunners, but have a game in hand.

The two teams are due to meet in the Carabao Cup final on 22 March, before clashing again in a huge league match at the Etihad Stadium on 19 April.

Andy Robertson has revealed that he wanted to stay at Liverpool after holding talks with Tottenham in January.

Spurs made a surprise approach for the Liverpool vice-captain, who is in the final months of his contract at Anfield, in the winter transfer window and the Premier League champions considered it out of respect for the left-back.

But while Liverpool changed their minds and decided they could not allow Robertson to leave, the Scotland skipper, who underlined his commitment to the club, was adamant he did not want to go.

“There was obviously interest there,” he said. “There was discussions had with both sets of clubs. But the decision was that I wanted to stay. We stayed at Liverpool and that was the decision made.

“I was never not committed. I've been committed to Liverpool for the last eight and a half or nine years now and I'll be committed until I'm no longer needed.

“That's always been my mindset. This club has given me everything and I've given this club everything. It's been a fantastic relationship so hopefully that continues and obviously January happened, but it is now gone.”

Robertson has lost his place this season, with summer signing Milos Kerkez becoming the first-choice left-back, and has said that he wants to play more.

But he has also held discussions with Liverpool, including sporting director Richard Hughes, about a new deal as he considers what to do next.

And he added: “I've always said that will stay between me and the club. I don't think it will get played out in public. It is not one of them. I have got an amazing relationship with Richard and with Mike Gordon and Michael Edwards.

“I've had a good relationship with these people and these people brought me to the football club. They have helped make me who I am, so in that respect, we've had a fantastic relationship. I think out of respect to them, and they have respected me, then the conversations will be in-house.”

Tottenham Hotspur fans are at their wits’ end after a disastrous run has left the club flirting with relegation.

Supporters described a squad lacking effort, spirit, and direction. They said they were frustrated by constant underperformance despite recent attempts to strengthen in the summer and January transfer windows.

Many argued the crisis runs far deeper than the players on the pitch. Fans pointed the finger at former chairman Daniel Levy, the Lewis Family Trust, and the board, criticising poor decisions on managers — from sacking Ange Postecoglou after he won the Europa League last season to replacing him with Thomas Frank, whose 34.2 per cent win rate is the lowest for a permanent manager in the club’s modern history.

Supporters also criticised the club for failing to replace Harry Kane and Son Heung-min with players of similar quality, adding that the squad now lacks the experience and depth needed to cope.

Here’s what you have to say:

While Levy was more interested in the money side of the club, he would certainly have sacked Frank well before he was finally given the heave-ho. Levy would almost certainly have brought in a better coach than Tudor, someone with more of a CV.

The chairman, down through the director of football, needs to look at themselves as much as the players. A good clear-out is needed, not just of the players.

Boy from ceiber

A rudderless ship with mutiny afoot! They need a miracle to stay up, but it’s not deserved, and perhaps a stern lesson in the Championship might lead to a change of ownership for the better. Top-to-bottom restructuring is required.

As for the players, they should be ashamed for the lack of effort and attitudes/egos, which is all we’ve seen and not much else from most of them. Painful to watch week-in, week-out with no hope on the horizon.

PRS

As a lifetime Spurs supporter, I feel just gobsmacked at the moment. Even with a decimated squad through injuries, January came and went while all the other teams around them were doing business. Now, several weeks on, with the club on the verge of going down the toilet, wiping hundreds of millions in value, the owners Joe Lewis and the family of beach loafers announce they are willing to do a U-turn on their salary cap and make significant investments in new players.

Please, can someone else buy this club — someone who knows what it takes to run a billion-pound football business? But of course, no asset-stripping US private equity firms need apply.

kotchka

Never have the words "You don’t know what you’re doing" been more appropriate. From the directors to the coaching staff and medics, and down to the players, a miasma of ineptitude and general uselessness exists everywhere. No chiefs, no Indians, no momentum, no spirit, no hope – just money and plenty of it. Sixty years a Spurs fan – the lowest point since the war, and maybe ever.

IsThatTheTime

I remember some folk saying finishing 17th under Ange was unacceptable and his sacking was merited – that’s well documented. It was a calculated gamble on his part, and he backed himself and his players to win. He won Spurs a trophy – the first one in decades — and got them to the Champions League. He was also beset with a lot of injuries to key players.

Spurs are in an even worse position than last season with no trophy to show for it, so I wonder what the opinion on that is now?

Butre

Not sure Tottenham’s situation should be inevitable. Not sure there’s no single start date for this. The start date is simple: the transfer window of summer 2018 was the firing shot for where the club is now. Financially, they have not overextended themselves, that’s true. But they have done the opposite – constantly spending incrementally less money than ideal to attract substantially worse players than needed. They have saved themselves into a relegation fight, and ironically ended up overpaying, especially in salaries, for the quality of players they have.

Adding to that, only one club in the world could have a whole starting line-up injured and still be performing at an acceptable level. So the current situation is forged by repeating the same mistake for eight years, expecting future salvation.

ItReallyIsNot

Spurs continue to buy Championship-level squad players and pay them Premier League wages. Sadly, a youngster who runs a fantasy football league could do better at creating a competitive squad for Spurs. Not sure who is in charge of player acquisitions at Spurs – perhaps the feeling is sweeping the stands after each match?

Rachel

If Spurs fans spent half as much energy supporting their team as they have griping about the various managers, players at the club, players no longer at the club, and the board, then I dare say they would be in a much better position than they are. At least two good managers have been forced out the door in the past year or so under fan pressure.

mazungo

Some of the comments have been edited for this article for brevity and clarity.

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It might not have been the wisest idea for Igor Tudor to opt for a nautical reference. “The boat is going in the direction I want,” said the Tottenham manager. The temptation was to reply that it is a sinking ship, that the vessel Tudor commands is the Titanic, with deluxe furnishings, but going down.

Spurs’ 3-1 defeat to Crystal Palace suggested that, in 2026, the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium will host the NFL, Bad Bunny, Atletico Madrid and Lincoln City. It would be an eclectic assortment. Few go from Champions League to Championship in a few months. Tottenham might, and there would be something hubristic about a club that signed up for the Super League in 2021 descending to a very different division five years later. Although Spurs’ only wins in 2026 have come against German opposition, perhaps they should apply to join the Bundesliga instead.

The prospect of Tottenham going down, which first felt doom-mongering by some of the support, has started to look ever more realistic. A midweek when West Ham won away from home, Nottingham Forest earned a surprise point at the Etihad Stadium and Spurs lost at home, ended with their chances of demotion – according to the Opta predictor – shooting up to 16.1 percent.

They have been in relegation form. They have 29 points in 29 games this season; going back further, it is 32 from 36, 36 from 41. After the heady days of Ange Postecoglou’s first 10 matches, they have 107 points from 95 top-flight outings. They have been a poor Premier League team for two-and-a-half years. They are getting worse.

Losing to Palace was damning in so many ways. The FA Cup winners could have proved ideal opponents: with Oliver Glasner headed for the exit soon, with Eberechi Eze gone last summer, Marc Guehi in January, Jean-Philippe Mateta injured, Maxence Lacroix suspended and Daniel Munoz departing within a quarter of an hour. Injuries are a cause of Spurs’ slide, but they lacked the mettle to take advantage of others’ absences.

Their decline lends itself to contradictory conclusions: they should have sacked Thomas Frank sooner and yet they have gotten worse without him. The obvious reservation about Tudor, a seasoned firefighter, was that none of his experience occurred in England. He had made an immediate impact in each of his last two rescue jobs. Lazio conceded only two goals in his first three games in charge. So, a year on, did Juventus. Now Spurs, Tudor’s leaky vessel, have let in nine in the Croatian’s first three fixtures. They have lost all three.

The short-term appointment was asked on Thursday if he would be seen again at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium – as their next two games are away, they do not return there until 18 March – which raised the possibility that Spurs will have the shortest relationship with a Tudor since Anne of Cleves married Henry VIII. Do Spurs stick or twist, replace one interim with another? Daniel Levy did it three years ago when jettisoning Cristian Stellini for Ryan Mason. Levy is gone now and Tudor has rather more pedigree than either Stellini or Mason, but a grounding in the Premier League could be pivotal, given the peril Spurs are in.

Because this would be the most shocking Premier League relegation of all. There have been contenders: Forest under Brian Clough, in the division’s inaugural campaign, Blackburn, four years after winning the title, Leeds, three after they were Champions League semi-finalists, Newcastle, Aston Villa and Leicester City, seven years after winning the Premier League.

But the elite were supposed to have ever more insurance against such a fate. Levy’s policy of seeking to keep salaries low may have cost Spurs the services of some transfer targets, and led to many lazily parroting the figure that it was 42 percent of turnover, but Tottenham probably still have the seventh largest wage bill in England, above Newcastle.

They – players, managers, executives – have underachieved on a spectacular scale. Now the safety net has been removed. Even when Tottenham finished 17th and Manchester United 15th last year, a gulf separated them from the bottom three. Now a lone point does.

Their next league match is at Anfield. They will be without the suspended Micky van der Ven, losing the stand-in skipper as his centre-back sidekick is finally eligible again for domestic duty. In Cristian Romero’s absence – given that he was sent off at 0-0, in the first half hour at Old Trafford – Spurs have, in effect, suffered five defeats. Whether a calamitous captain’s return is anything to be welcomed remains to be seen. So far, Tudor’s brand of leadership has not worked either, though saying they were lacking in attack, midfield and defence at Fulham was at least honest.

He tried criticism then, encouragement after losing to Palace. The fact, though, is that Tottenham have gone 11 league games without a win for the first time in half a century. Then they still finished ninth. They won’t now, as concern mounts that Tudor’s boat is turning into a shipwreck of a season.

Tottenham Hotspur have been warned they face a "significant" financial hit even if they avoid relegation to the Championship.

The north London club is currently in a battle to stay in the top flight after a 10-match Premier League winless run saw them slide down the table.

Manager Thomas Frank was sacked last month and replaced with interim boss Igor Tudor, who conceded it was an "emergency situation."

It has also been estimated Tottenham could lose £250 million if they go down.

However, leading sports lawyer Geoff Cunningham of Clarion Solicitors has painted a bleak picture for the 2025-26 campaign regardless of their division, given Spurs are likely to miss out on Europe for only a third time in 21 seasons.

Cunningham said: “I imagine they will have certain commercial revenue that will increase based upon them being in a European competition.

“If they’re not in Europe, it’s not just lost revenue from being in the competition, but it’s also lost revenue of commercial rights they sell for being in that competition and also the ticket revenue and the hospitality revenue.

“Every time there’s a home game and they sell 60,000 tickets plus corporate hospitality, that’s a fair amount of revenue generated from every game.

“It’s going to be significant (loss) and there’s no way of really avoiding that. It’s just simple maths. If there’s less games and there’s less TV revenue from European competition, you are going to lose more money.”

Cunningham was more optimistic about how Spurs could handle relegation given they have the ninth biggest revenue in world football.

“I think the kind of reported £250million relegation cost is probably likely to be quite accurate,” Cunningham said.

“The Premier League revenue difference will probably be compared with where they’ve been used to finishing and if you also account European football, I think it would be quite likely to be £100m or more.

“There’s a number of ways they can plug the gap or part of the gap quite quickly with certain financial facilities, but I don’t think they’ll do that. I think they’re a club with pretty good financial stability and I think they will naturally cut their cloth accordingly.

“Player contracts will reduce significantly and they will manage themselves pretty well.

“They are likely to be able to survive in the Championship at a very good level and likely compete, like Burnley do, with promotion quite quickly after relegation.”

Tottenham Hotspur have been warned they face a "significant" financial hit even if they avoid relegation to the Championship.

The north London club is currently in a battle to stay in the top flight after a 10-match Premier League winless run saw them slide down the table.

Manager Thomas Frank was sacked last month and replaced with interim boss Igor Tudor, who conceded it was an "emergency situation."

It has also been estimated Tottenham could lose £250 million if they go down.

However, leading sports lawyer Geoff Cunningham of Clarion Solicitors has painted a bleak picture for the 2025-26 campaign regardless of their division, given Spurs are likely to miss out on Europe for only a third time in 21 seasons.

Cunningham said: “I imagine they will have certain commercial revenue that will increase based upon them being in a European competition.

“If they’re not in Europe, it’s not just lost revenue from being in the competition, but it’s also lost revenue of commercial rights they sell for being in that competition and also the ticket revenue and the hospitality revenue.

“Every time there’s a home game and they sell 60,000 tickets plus corporate hospitality, that’s a fair amount of revenue generated from every game.

“It’s going to be significant (loss) and there’s no way of really avoiding that. It’s just simple maths. If there’s less games and there’s less TV revenue from European competition, you are going to lose more money.”

Cunningham was more optimistic about how Spurs could handle relegation given they have the ninth biggest revenue in world football.

“I think the kind of reported £250million relegation cost is probably likely to be quite accurate,” Cunningham said.

“The Premier League revenue difference will probably be compared with where they’ve been used to finishing and if you also account European football, I think it would be quite likely to be £100m or more.

“There’s a number of ways they can plug the gap or part of the gap quite quickly with certain financial facilities, but I don’t think they’ll do that. I think they’re a club with pretty good financial stability and I think they will naturally cut their cloth accordingly.

“Player contracts will reduce significantly and they will manage themselves pretty well.

“They are likely to be able to survive in the Championship at a very good level and likely compete, like Burnley do, with promotion quite quickly after relegation.”

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Tottenham Hotspur legend Ossie Ardiles has urged unity to help his former club escape "big, big trouble" in the Premier League.

Spurs' top-flight status faces its gravest threat in three decades, now just four points above the relegation zone following Sunday's 2-1 defeat at Fulham.

A dismal run of two wins in 19 matches, including a record-equalling 10-game winless streak, has sent the fanbase into a frenzy, questioning if the injury-hit squad can halt the slide.

Ahead of Thursday’s visit of Crystal Palace, two-time FA Cup winner Ardiles told the Press Association: "Our job, everybody at the club, my job and the job of everybody in Tottenham is to go behind the team.

"We are OK right now but we could be in big, big trouble. "So, everybody has to be together to achieve what we want to achieve. Survive this season and then we’ll see what happens next."

Ardiles discussed Tottenham’s precarious situation during a milestone event for his former team-mate Micky Hazard, who, alongside his sister Michelle, co-founded the mental health charity Legend On The Bench.

The Hazards unveiled the 100th park bench by Legend On The Bench last Thursday at Water Gardens in Harlow, with several Spurs greats, including Ardiles, in attendance.

Former England goalkeeper Pat Jennings and ex-Tottenham captain Gary Mabbutt were also present for the landmark occasion for the charity, established after Hazard’s nephew Jay committed suicide in 2019.

"Yes, it is a wonderful, wonderful achievement. I was with him when he started to do this and he started very small, but it is amazing how it has grown," Ardiles reflected.

"Micky is the driving force. I come, take pictures and talk a lot of rubbish, but the proper job and the hard work is all down to him.

"His goal was quite small but it grew and grew and he works harder and harder. Now we are where we are right now. It’s an incredible achievement."