Manchester United legend criticizes Igor Tudor for 'destroying' Tottenham player's career

Legend Peter Schmeichel believes coach Igor Tudor "destroyed" goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky's career following Tottenham's 2-5 defeat to Atletico Madrid in the Champions League.

In the first leg of the round of 16 in Madrid, Atletico Madrid led 3-0 within just 15 minutes, with goalkeeper Kinsky making errors that led to two goals. Notably, the 22-year-old goalkeeper had not played for Tottenham since October. After the series of mistakes, he was Igor Tudor substituted off at the 17th minute.

Kinsky joined Tottenham from Slavia Prague for a fee of £12.5 million 14 months ago. After leaving the pitch, he received no encouragement from Tudor on the sidelines and went straight into the tunnel.

Speaking to CBS Sports, Schmeichel commented on this substitution decision: “I really, really feel sorry for him. You make mistakes, it happens. The coach is the one who put him in the lineup. Clearly, he cost the team the chance to get a result, though honestly Tottenham had no chance of winning this match. It was a terrible performance.”

“But when that happened, looking at the clock at 14 minutes and 55 seconds, what did Igor Tudor do? He pulled him off. That will have consequences for the rest of his career. This will be the moment anyone in football remembers whenever his name is mentioned.

“You are the coach, you make choices, yes, things don’t go as planned and the team is trailing 0-3. There was no way Tottenham could recover from that. But you must continue to trust him, at least until the end of the first half. To me, what he did there completely destroyed his career. It will be a shock very difficult to overcome.”

Meanwhile, Tudor stated that Kinsky understands why he was substituted so early. Tottenham's manager said:

“Such things are very rare. I have been a coach for 15 years and never done that before. But this was necessary to protect the player, as well as protect the team. An unbelievable situation, nothing more to say.

“Unfortunately, those mistakes happened in such a big match. He is very sad. The team is with him, I am too. I spoke with him. He understands the moment, understands why he had to leave the pitch,” Tudor said.

Tottenham currently ranks 16th in the Premier League and will visit Liverpool on March 15. In fact, Spurs could fall into the relegation zone before the match at Anfield begins.

Interim coach Igor Tudor is also under immense pressure after becoming the first Tottenham manager in history to lose all four of his initial matches. It remains unclear whether he will still be in charge this weekend.