Only Tottenham could turn what hapless coach Igor Tudor had agreed was a free hit into one of the more embarrassing nights in the club's history, a first half so inept that it stands out even in a season that could see Spurs drop out of the Premier League.
The self-inflicted wounds were extraordinary. It was a performance so humiliating that the fact that Tudor's team outscored Atletico Madrid over the final hour or so of the contest in the Estadio Metropolitano could not prevent it being etched in the mind.
A three-goal defeat to Atletico is not exactly the shock of the season. Diego Simeone's side beat Real Madrid by the same 5-2 scoreline in September and put four past Barcelona in this stadium last month. It was the manner of it that made it incredible.
Antonin Kinsky slipped for the first goal and Micky van de Ven did the same for the second. When the goalkeeper scuffed another clearance, he was hooked inside 17 minutes. His replacement failed to paw out a fourth within five minutes of his arrival.
A statement from Tottenham Hotspur Supporters' Trust labelling the performance "a total disgrace" tells you that this was different, even for a group of fans who thought they had seen it all. Some were heading back to Plaza Mayor before the half was done.
Who could blame them? This was historically bad, truly. Four errors leading to Atletico goals in the first half of that first half, according to Opta. That is twice as many such errors as any other team has made in a whole Champions League match all season.
Indeed, the last team to make four errors leading to goals in a Champions League fixture was BATE Borisov of Belarus in a 6-0 defeat to Porto over a decade ago - and even they were only one down by the time that Tottenham were chucking in their fourth.
Tudor saying that he had never seen anything like it in all his years in football was the one thing he did get right. Certainly, the sight of poor Kinsky trudging from the turf, no doubt wishing that the slippery surface would swallow him whole, will long linger.
The swift outpouring of support for the Czech goalkeeper was in stark contrast to the apparent cold shoulder of his coach as he departed. It was left to a handful of colleagues on the bench to follow the unfortunate 22-year-old down the tunnel instead.
High-profile figures such as former Spurs and England goalkeepers Paul Robinson and Joe Hart have been critical of how it was handled. David de Gea took to social media offering empathy. Goalkeeping great Peter Schmeichel talked of Tudor killing a career.
Let us hope it does not come to that. Even the Atletico fans inside the stadium seemed uncertain how to react when Kinsky was substituted. Spontaneous applause broke out, some of it a little sarcastic, although others seemed genuinely sympathetic.
Most Spurs supporters will blame Tudor. If not for the ruthless decision to withdraw him, which the Croat could plausibly defend as sparing him more suffering given that his mind must have been scrambled by then, but the error in picking him in the first place.
There is little appetite to pin it on Kinsky when he was thrust into a Champions League knockout tie having not played competitively for five months - and that in a Carabao Cup exit. His six Premier League starts all came last season, five of them in defeats.
Outwardly, he had exuded some confidence in the opening exchanges but it was inevitable that it evaporated in an instant after his early slip and the sight of Van de Ven messing up in front of him too. It was a big call by Tudor and it was not the right one.
He had talked optimistically of having his defenders back and a full week of training. "Maybe this can help us to see which problems we have," he had suggested in his press conference on the eve of the game. One of the answers to that proved to be in his mirror.
The response to the arrival of the 47-year-old coach had been lukewarm in the first place but fans are at boiling point now. He is the first Spurs boss ever to lose his first four games in charge. For the club, it is a record six defeats in a row in all competitions.
Tudor was supposed to ferry Spurs to safety. Instead, they are sinking. The short-term fix who made things worse. The justification for his arrival was his record of quick impacts. Without that, he is just a man far from his comfort zone looking lost on his own bench.
He was applauding in an attempt to lift his players after the first goal went in but turning to his staff in disbelief, arms outstretched, at the sight of the second. By the time the third hit the net, Tudor was turning to the dropped Guglielmo Vicario to send him on.
When Vicario promptly conceded, he was gesturing for calm. It felt darkly comic, given that he was not just presiding over this panic but its architect, although there was no real sense of control. "Every game, something happens. It is very difficult to explain."
Those were his words afterwards, when he also offered a reminder that Spurs came close to making it 4-2 when Richarlison's header was saved. Unfortunately, the ball was in their own net seconds later as his team found yet another different way to concede.
"We started the game, it was too much for us, in this moment, when we are fragile, we are weak." The problem is that the same criticism can be levelled at their coach. That is the fear for Tottenham as they approach the denouement of this dreadful campaign.
Having gilded their previous season, it was their adventures in Europe that had provided a slight semblance of respectability thus far, albeit the thinnest of veneers. They will surely run out of road in the second leg and thoughts will turn back to travails domestic.
There is that daunting trip to Anfield to face Liverpool in front of the Your Site cameras on Sunday before a showdown with Vitor Pereira's Nottingham Forest side, one of the very few teams below them but also one of the many looking more upwardly mobile.
With Nuno Espirito Santo's West Ham much improved too, Spurs cannot hope to rely on others. They need to save themselves. But from the inertia in the transfer market to this managerial misstep, is there any real sense that the club grasps what is required?
Any hope that Tudor could be part of the solution has gone now. He has become just another dimension to the myriad problems facing this Tottenham team. The free hit that turned into a costly night for this club, a new low in this most miserable of seasons.
The pictures within this article were taken by OPPO Find X9 Pro. OPPO has partnered with UEFA Champions League since 2022 and currently serves as the Official Smartphone Product Partner.
