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Kinsky gets support from goalkeeper community after Champions League debacle, if not from his coach

There was no arm around the shoulder from his manager as trudged off the field after being substituted just 17 minutes into his calamitous debut.

Instead, support for the 22-year-old Czech came from the goalkeeper community.

鈥淣o one who hasn鈥檛 been a goalkeeper can understand how difficult it is to play in this position,鈥 Fiorentina’s David De Gea wrote on social media after Kinsky was taken off the field after making two mistakes leading to goals early in Tottenham鈥檚 5-2 loss at Atletico Madrid in the round of 16 on Tuesday.

鈥淜eep your head up and you will go again.鈥

Former Manchester United and Denmark goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel said in his role as a pundit for CBS Sports that he felt 鈥渞eally, really sorry鈥 for Kinsky, who miskicked twice when attempting passes out from his area 鈥 leading to goals for first Marcos Llorente and then Julian Alvarez.

Schmeichel then had strong words for Tottenham manager Igor Tudor, who didn鈥檛 even acknowledge Kinsky as the young keeper walked off the field and straight down the tunnel. Tudor just continued looking straight out onto the field.

Schmeichel said Tudor should have kept Kinsky on, at least until halftime.

鈥淭hat鈥檚 going to have ramifications for the rest of his career,鈥 Schmeichel said. 鈥淭his will be a moment that everybody in football will always remember every time they see and hear his name.

鈥淲hat he鈥檚 done there, for me,鈥 he added, 鈥渉e鈥檚 absolutely killed his career. That鈥檚 going to take something to get over that.鈥

Former Tottenham goalkeeper Paul Robinson, working at the match for the BBC, said being withdrawn so early would be 鈥渃onfidence destroying鈥 for Kinsky.

鈥淚鈥檝e never seen that on a football pitch,鈥 Robinson said, in thoughts echoed by former England goalkeeper Joe Hart 鈥 also at the game for broadcaster TNT Sports.

鈥淢y heart is absolutely broken for him,鈥 Hart said.

Tudor said he spoke to Kinsky after the match, and took him off to 鈥減reserve the guy.鈥

鈥淗e understands everything,鈥 the Croatian coach said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 a big lesson, unfortunately it happened in this big game.鈥

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