Tottenham slipped to an embarrassing 5-2 defeat at Atletico Madrid but were they ambushed by a pitch the La Liga side knew was well-below Champions League standard
As Tottenham slipped horrifically to a 5-2 Champions League defeat at Atletico Madrid one thought crossed the mind of football’s most cynical fans – had Diego Simeone reached a new high in his use of the dark arts.
The Atletico boss is held in high regard when it comes to using anything he can to get his team over the line. From getting David Beckham sent-off as a player at the World Cup in 1998 to Stefan Savic pulling Jack Grealish’s hair in a feisty Champions League quarter-final in April 2022, Simeone knows every sly trick in the book.
With players slipping and falling all over the pitch, leading to Tottenham conceding three times in the opening 15 minutes, it was hard not to think Simeone had somehow ambushed Igor Tudor’s struggling side.
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But sadly, as much as we like to think Goldenballs’ World Cup nemesis took the oil he uses to slick back his hair and poured it all over the Metropolitano pitch, the truth offers little excuse for Spurs‘ shambolic display.
Well, some sympathy can be given to 22-year-old goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, who slipped twice to gift Atletico two of the three goals they scored in the opening 17 minutes before being subbed off.
He was thrown into the deep end of his first Champions League start for Tottenham, and first anywhere since October, on one of La Liga’s most notorious pitches.
It turns out the competitive advantage Simeone carved out for his side, is that they have been dealing with a pitch you would not want to play a Sunday League game on never mind a Champions League Round of 16 clash.
Atleti’s star forward Antoine Griezmann admitted after the game: “We took advantage of some errors of theirs, they were slipping a lot on the pitch and we’re used to it.”
Far better teams than Igor Tudor’s Tottenham have been stuffed on the slippy Metropolitano pitch, with Barcelona going down 4-0 in a Copa Del Rey semi-final in February.
Atletico Madrid captain Koke blasted the condition of the club’s pitch after defeat to Real Betis just days before the Barca bashing. Koke revealed the pitch was falling apart as they ran across it.
He said: “Honestly, the pitch is not in good condition. We slip, the turf comes up… A team like Atletico needs the pitch to be good in order to play. We’re expected to perform at a high level, and we need a pitch of that level to be able to do so; a top quality surface.”
The problem with the pitch dates back to November 2025, when NFL team Miami Dolphins used it to train on. This led to the grass being replaced mid-season.
Despite investment in hybrid grass technology from Grass Master Solutions, the surface has deteriorated rapidly due to persistent rain, cold, and snow in Madrid, leading to patchy grass, loose turf, and uneven sections.
Atletico will not replace the dodgy surface until at least the end of the season, despite it clearly not being fit for purpose but it has made for some interesting viewing, unless you are a Spurs or Barcelona fan.