Spurs found themselves 3-0 down after 14 minutes as goalkeeper Antonin Kinsky, handed his Champions League debut in place of the heavily criticised Guglielmo Vicario, was one of many players to fall victim to the slippery surface in Madrid. An attempted pass out from the back saw him slip on and hand the ball straight to Julian Alvarez, who in turn worked the ball back into the box for Marcos Llorente to take full advantage and fire home to open the scoring.
Micky van de Ven mimicked his goalkeeper less than 10 minutes later, losing his footing off the back of a simple pass from Pape Matar Sarr to allow Antoine Griezmann to run onto the ball. The veteran French forward still had plenty of work to do, but made it look easy as he rolled his shot into the back of the net for the host's second.
But that was not the end of the disaster for Spurs. Almost immediately after the restart, Kinsky was at fault again, mishitting a pass back to him straight to Alvarez, who had an empty net to walk the ball into. That signalled the end of the 22-year-old 'keeper's night, although he did receive a standing ovation from the home crowd.
Vicario entered the fray but conceded himself not long after as a pacey free-kick in from Atletico was flicked towards his own goal by Sarr, and although Vicario made a good initial stop, it was bundled in by Robin Le Normand. Spurs did get one back before the break, though, when Pedro Porro linked up well with Richarlison before firing a low strike into the back of the net to offer the slimmest glimmer of hope to the away side.
Despite a bright start to the second half from Tottenham, Atletico soon had their fifth. After a fantastic save from Jan Oblak to deny Richarlison at one end, Alvarez scored just 12 seconds later via a clinical counter-attack which included a sublime touch by Griezmann.
Dominic Solanke grabbed another for Spurs with 10 minutes to go after a loose clearance from Oblak to give Spurs a slightly lesser mountain to climb in north London next week.