Tottenham's interim coach Igor Tudor bemoaned an "incredible situation" which led him to withdraw goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky after just 17 minutes of Tuesday's 5-2 Champions League defeat at Atletico Madrid.
The 22-year-old Czech stopper made two errors leading to goals as Spurs fell three behind inside the first 15 minutes of the last 16 first-leg clash at the Metropolitano stadium.
Tudor selected Kinsky, who had not played since October, over Guglielmo Vicario after five straight Premier League defeats before the game.
"(The situation was) very rare. I've been coaching for 15 years, I've never done this. It was necessary to preserve the guy, preserve the team," Tudor told reporters.
The Croatian coach defended his decision to start Kinsky.
"It was, before the game, the right choice to do in the moment like we are. With pressure on Vicario, in another competition... 'Tony' is a very good goalkeeper. It was, for me, the right decision.
"After this, of course, it's easy to say that it was not the right decision."
Kinsky slipped and gave the ball away in the sixth minute for Marcos Llorente to open the scoring.
After Micky van de Ven fell over allowing Antoine Griezmann to score the second, Kinsky erred again.
The goalkeeper bungled a pass and Julian Alvarez was able to walk the ball into the net.
Tudor sent on Vicario to replace Kinsky, who was applauded off by Atletico's fans.
"Unfortunately, it happened in this big game, these mistakes. So we paid this start of the game, it was too much for us," continued Tudor.
"(Kinsky) was sorry... the team is with him, me too. I was speaking with him. He understands the moment, he understands why he goes out.
"As I said before, he's a very good goalkeeper. We are with him, we are all together. It's never about one player."
Tudor, who has lost all four matches at the helm since replacing Thomas Frank in February, refused to say whether he should still be at the helm.
Tottenham, 16th in the Premier League, are facing a fight against relegation.
"I need to keep working. Not speaking too much, stay focused on the things we can do," Tudor added on TNT Sports.
"It's unbelievably difficult to explain all these things, the first time in my career that I saw these things, 15 years.
"I'm focused on the problems, the players also. We need to stay positive."
