Advertisement
Spurs keeper Antonin Kinsky set for EPL return as club confirm Vicario’s injury.
20th March, 2026 08:27 PM
Tottenham goalkeeper Guglielmo Vicario will undergo hernia surgery after Sunday’s game against Nottingham Forest, with his potential absence opening the door for Antonin Kinsky to return following his Atletico Madrid horror show.
Spurs confirmed on Friday that Vicario will have a “minor procedure timed to have as minimal impact on the season as possible,” and “it is hoped that he could return to action within the next month.”
Six-pointer
Sky Sports News understands he is available for selection in Sunday’s crunch relegation six-pointer against Forest, live on Sky Sports.
It is also understood that the 29-year-old has been playing through the pain barrier for several weeks with the issue.
But the Italy international will face a race to be fit for Spurs’ next game after Forest, which is against Sunderland on Saturday, April 12.
If Vicario fails to recover in time for that match at the Stadium of Light, then Kinsky could start after he was embarrassingly substituted after just 17 minutes in the 5-2 Champions League last 16 first-leg defeat at Atletico Madrid earlier this month.
Kinsky, who was taken off in Spain following two errors that saw Spurs go 3-0 down after just 15 minutes, failed to make this month’s Czech Republic squad for their upcoming World Cup play-off campaign, meaning he will remain at Spurs for the March international break.
International Fixtures
Vicario was also a notable absentee from the Italy squad announced on Friday for this month’s international fixtures.
Spurs boss Igor Tudor faced the media later on Friday and confirmed there were no fresh injury problems, but the struggling Premier League club have now revealed Vicario’s surgery ahead of Sunday’s visit of 17th-placed Forest, who are only one point behind Tottenham.
Last week, Tudor defended his man-management skills and revealed he hugged Kinsky after his early substitution in Madrid.
Tudor explained, “When you do that substitution after 15 minutes, the coach loses in both cases.
“First case, because you put him in so everyone says, ‘why are you doing this? You killed the guy.’ If you don’t, you are taking the risk of conceding one or two more goals.
“I took the decision after thinking, and if I needed to, I would do the same again. It was an act of helping to preserve the guy and to preserve the team.
“Why didn’t I go to give him a hug? Because maybe he was angry. Maybe coaches do the things to avoid this scene and to get a situation worse than it was.
Bounce back
“Sometimes it is better to stay there, and we hug each other at halftime. At halftime we speak and nothing more; the situation happened there. It finished there.”
Asked if he did give a shell-shocked Kinsky a hug at halftime, Tudor insisted, “Of course.”
Tudor then backed Kinsky to have the “strength and quality” to bounce back.
