There is a cruel irony at the heart of Tottenham Hotspur’s season: even their victories are wrapped up in defeat. Wednesday night at Tottenham Hotspur The stadium was the perfect summary of a campaign that has gone spectacularly wrong almost from the first whistle.
The espols were excellent. They beat Atlético de Madrid 3-2 in a second leg that, on another night, might have sparked a genuine belief in the miraculous. Xavi Simons was electric, Randal Kolo Muani sharp, and the crowd — 49,568 of them, generating one of the best stadium atmospheres of a difficult season — roared their approval. None of that mattered. The 5-2 in Madrid three weeks ago had already written the end of the story, and Atlético advance to face Barcelona, while Spurs are left to contemplate a much more pressing concern: staying in the Premier League.
That is now the only thing that matters in N17.
The Champions League, so coveted after last season’s Europa League triumph, has finally shown a secondary display of a fight for survival that few could have predicted when the campaign began. Thomas Frank is gone. Interim side Igor Tudor have had a tough run – four defeats in their first four games hardly inspire confidence – but their last two performances have shown something different. Something more like a team.
“The fans were with us until the last moment.”
Reaction from Igor Tudor’s party
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— Tottenham Hotspur (@SpursOfficial) March 18, 2026
Tudor himself was characteristically unsentimental at full-time, walking down the tunnel unceremoniously before offering measured words in his post-match assessment. “Feelings are mixed,” he admitted. Mixed is probably generous. He knows, like everyone else, that this is not his job to keep permanently. But he also knows he’s done something in recent days that his predecessor couldn’t: He’s made the Spurs competitive again.
The Premier League figures are still alarming. Twelve games without a win, dating back to a win at Crystal Palace on the last day of December. Six draws, six defeats. A slide that has dragged them into relegation alongside clubs with considerably more modest ambitions.
Sunday now becomes everything. Nottingham Forest arrive at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium sitting just one point behind Spurs, as do third-bottom West Ham. A defeat at home would be catastrophic both in practical and psychological terms. A win, on the other hand, could change the momentum of an entire campaign.
There were moments on Wednesday that offered genuine reasons for optimism. When Julian Alvarez restored Atletico’s three-goal lead two minutes into the second half, an inferior team – or the Spurs of two weeks ago – might have collapsed. Instead, Simons responded almost immediately with a composed finish, and when David Hancko headed home an equalizer in the 75th minute, there was a brief glimmer of hope. A penalty by Simons in the final seconds sealed the outcome of the night, if not the result of the tie.
It wasn’t enough. It rarely is this season. But for fans who have spent months watching a team without belief or structure, at least there was something recognisable: effort, organization and, occasionally, genuine quality.
Tudor was careful to keep expectations grounded. “We have improved in the last two games,” he acknowledged. “Sunday is important, but it won’t decide anything yet. It will be decided over the last three games.”
He’s right, technically. But football is as much about momentum as it is about math, and right now, the Spurs have something they’ve been missing for most of this miserable winter. Whether it’s enough to keep them in the top flight remains the defining question of their season.
