£51m star suffers European disaster after Tottenham talks, Paratici gave up on late transfer

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Tottenham wanted Yannick Carrasco before the summer deadline and he has now tasted European disaster with Atletico Madrid.

Spurs enjoyed their Champions League night; well, in the end at least.

Tottenham went 1-0 down to Marseille in a game they needed a result from, but came back in the second half with Clement Lenglet and Pierre-Emile Hojbejrg finding the net.

That gave Tottenham a 2-1 win and a passage through to the knockout stages of the Champions League.

Atletico Madrid haven’t had any such success.

Tottenham wanted Yannick Carrasco

Diego Simeone’s side are usually a strong bet for the knockout stages of the Champions League.

The Spaniards are incredibly frustrating to play against and Simeone has guided them to two finals in the past.

This campaign has been a disaster though.

Atletico started well enough, beating Porto 2-1 with a dramatic 101st minute goal from Antoine Griezmann.

In the following five games, Atletico managed to claim just two points.

Their fate was sealed against Bayer Leverkusen last week as a 2-2 draw meant they could no longer progress from their group.

There was still third place to play for but Atletico botched that too, losing 2-1 at Porto on Tuesday night.

That means Atletico are out of Europe completely and won’t even be playing in the Europa League in 2023.

It’s fair to say that this is pretty embarrassing for Atletico and you have to wonder what winger Yannick Carrasco is thinking.

Tottenham wanted to sign Carrasco before the summer deadline and The Telegraph reported that Spurs opened talks over a big deal.

The Belgian has a £51million release clause in his contract and Tottenham explored a deal before Fabio Paratici gave up on the move.

Carrasco’s versatility up the flanks would have been ideal for Antonio Conte but the 29-year-old has been in and out of the Atletico side this season.

Carrasco played just 30 minutes last night and is now out of Europe completely whilst Tottenham can look forward to Champions League knockout football; few could really blame him if he wishes the move had materialised.