Tottenham finally found a pulse on Wednesday night. They beat Atletico Madrid 3-2, dragged themselves off the canvas, and handed Igor Tudor his first victory since replacing Thomas Frank. Yet when the whistle went, they were still out of the Champions League, beaten 7-5 on aggregate by Diego Simeone’s side.
Relief and regret, all wrapped into one north London evening.
Mixed emotions for Tudor
Tudor walked off the pitch sounding like a man wrestling with two truths. The result on the night was exactly what he needed. The bigger picture remained brutal.
“The sensations are mixed. You don't like to not get through, but it was a very good performance,” he told BBC Sport, summing up the paradox of a win that still meant elimination. He spoke of “a beautiful sensation on the pitch with the fans who were really there together with the squad and the team from the first moment.”
This wasn’t a manager hiding behind clichés. He knew what he’d seen: commitment, running, intensity. “Congratulations to the players. It is positive, commitment, lot of running, lots of good things.”
The pressure on him has been building from the moment he walked through the door. One win does not erase a relegation battle. But it can change the mood. It can change the noise.
Fans back onside
What stood out most for Tudor was the connection in the stands. For weeks, Tottenham Hotspur Stadium has sounded anxious, impatient, at times outright hostile. On this night, it felt different.
“The energy was really nice from the first moment and the fans recognised the team did everything from the first minute to the last and they were with us – beautiful, thanks,” he said.
The performance backed that up. Spurs chased, pressed, and refused to let Atletico settle. The belief, Tudor insisted, is returning. “The players believed and you could see the performance at this moment is very important. In the last two games we have improved.”
He didn’t try to dress up what comes next. Nottingham Forest on Sunday looms large, but he was careful not to turn it into a do-or-die soundbite. “It is an important game on Sunday [against Nottingham Forest] but it will not decide anything yet, it will be decided over the last three games.”
A thin squad, a big statement
If the performance impressed, the context made it even more striking. Spurs were running on fumes.
“Today we had 11 players and on the bench, just one player – [Kevin] Danso,” Tudor revealed. “[Lucas] Bergvall, [Destiny] Udogie and Conor [Gallagher], the doctors said they could only play 20 minutes so you have 11 players and Danso. That makes the value of this performance even better.”
In other words, this was not a night built on depth or rotation. It was a patched-up XI, a threadbare bench, and three half-fit options on strict limits. They still found a way to win.
“It was nice to take the victory and important for morale,” Tudor added. In a dressing room that has taken punch after punch this season, that matters.
Relegation fight now, Europe later
Strip away the Champions League lights and the reality is stark. Tottenham are fighting to stay in the Premier League. The idea of European football next season is gone.
Spurs are “embroiled in a battle to avoid relegation,” as the table makes painfully clear. There will be no European nights in north London next year, no glamorous visitors, no anthem. Survival comes first.
Tudor, though, is already looking beyond that immediate struggle. Asked about a return to continental competition, he didn’t flinch.
“Next year, no, it should be the year after that. Why not?” he said. There was no bravado in it, just a target. He pointed back to the club’s recent success: “Winning a trophy last season gave the confidence to the players and it is totally different if you have experience in European competition.”
For now, that experience is a memory rather than a roadmap. But Wednesday night offered something Spurs have been missing: a performance they could believe in.
The Champions League dream is over. The relegation fight is not. The question now is simple: was this just a defiant one-off, or the night Tudor truly turned Tottenham towards safer ground and, one day, Europe again?
