Van de Ven: Tottenham's defeat to Atletico was 'doomsday scenario'

Tottenham defender Micky van de Ven called their Champions League defeat to Atletico Madrid a "doomsday scenario" as they are on the brink of a last-16 exit.

Spurs lost 5-2 against Atleti in the first leg at the Metropolitano, with Van de Ven slipping to allow Antoine Griezmann in on goal for the LaLiga side's second goal of the match.

Atleti led 4-0 after just 22 minutes, the second-earliest a team has ever led by 4+ goals in a Champions League match after Real Madrid versus Dinamo Zagreb in November 2011 (20 minutes).

Goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, who started ahead of Guglielmo Vicario, was replaced by the Italian after just 17 minutes following two costly errors. 

Spurs have also now lost six consecutive matches in all competitions for the first time in their history, also leaving them in a relegation battle in the Premier League.

When asked about his thoughts on the defeat to Atleti, Van de Ven told Ziggo Sport: "Terrible.  I'll be completely honest with you, it's actually a doomsday scenario, everything that could go wrong in the first 20 minutes went wrong.

"Everyone's slipping. I slipped myself too, you know. Those are moments where you just really can't do anything about it. But I can't really stand here and start blaming the field. You kind of know what I mean?

"For 15 minutes we just conceded goals that you really can't do anything about. Again, I can't go blaming the field here, so yeah, that was just really tough.

"You could just come out here and give the standard talk about how 'we all need to stick together and work hard', but right now we're just taking blow after blow after blow.

"So it's just really tough. And now we also have an important match this weekend that I won't be able to play in because I'm suspended of course.

"But yeah, it's a really terrible period, I can tell you that. It's really, really awful, man."

Spurs face Liverpool on the weekend, with Igor Tudor's side just one point above the relegation zone in the English top-flight.

Van de Ven is suspended for their trip to Anfield after his red card against Crystal Palace, with the Dutch defender perhaps fortunate not to also see red versus Atleti after a poor challenge on David Hancko.