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Dominic Solanke says Tottenham's meltdown in Madrid was 'one in a million'

RE

Reuters

Published 3 months ago

Tottenham Hotspur's meltdown against Atletico Madrid in Tuesday's Champions League last-16 clash was ⁠a one-in-a-million occurrence, according to forward Dominic Solanke.

[p]Igor Tudor's side conceded three times in the opening 15 minutes, two ‌of the goals following calamitous errors by goalkeeper [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/kinsky-antonin/hv1U4aGj/"]Antonin Kinsky[/a] who was immediately ‌substituted.[/p][p]A slip by [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/van-de-ven-micky/rotN6HH8/"]Micky van de Ven[/a] also led ‌to [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/atl-madrid/jaarqpLQ/"]Atletico[/a]'s second goal as [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/tottenham/UDg08Ohm/"]Tottenham[/a] imploded before staging something of ‌a comeback [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/atl-madrid-jaarqpLQ/tottenham-UDg08Ohm/?mid=IPLvX3GD"]to eventually lose 5-2[/a].[/p][p][a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/player/solanke-dominic/OrADwZse/"]Solanke[/a]'s goal at least gave ‌Tottenham a glimmer of hope before next week's second leg in London, but he said it had been hard to recover from such a ‌dreadful start.[/p][p]"[b]Obviously the first 20 minutes was ⁠difficult, very difficult circumstances which ‌are one in a million[/b]," Solanke told Sky Sports on Thursday. "[b]You never ​prepare for that. You prepare all week to go into a game, have a game plan and ​then stuff like that can happen, which is rare[/b].[/p][p]"That gave us a bit of mountain to climb, but I think overall, ⁠we try to take ​some positives. We know we've still got another game."[/p][embed guid="98200845-a934-4ce3-8fd4-f2cec3c562f5" url="https://x.com/SpursOfficial/status/2032134024332746870" social-type="twitter" /][p]Kinsky's slip for the first goal and then a stray pass for the third saw him hauled off by Tudor, who has found himself under ‌an intense spotlight after losing all four games since being named as interim manager after the sacking of Thomas Frank.[/p][p]He will still be in charge for [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/game/soccer/liverpool-lId4TMwf/tottenham-UDg08Ohm/?mid=dtZvdoAa"]Sunday's away trip[/a] to Solanke's old club [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/liverpool/lId4TMwf/"]Liverpool[/a] when Tottenham will be desperate to avoid a seventh successive defeat in all competitions -- a run that has left them hovering just above the Premier League relegation zone.[/p][p]"[b]We've been so good in the Champions League this year but ‌we know we haven't been anywhere near good enough in ​the league[/b]," Solanke said. "[b]It's hard to put a finger on ‌it, just changing one thing. I think we need to be better in every department. We're trying to stay positive and want to change it around[/b].[/p][p]"We need to be brave, we need to be strong and have full belief."[/p][p]Tottenham ⁠are 16th in the ⁠Premier League table, one point ‌above [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/west-ham/Cxq57r8g/"]West Ham United[/a] and [a href="https://www.flashscore.ca/team/nottingham/UsushcZr/"]Nottingham Forest[/a].[/p]

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