Arsenal are set to face Atletico Madrid in the Champions League semi-finals, 24 hours on from a chaotic nine-goal thriller between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain
11:27, 29 Apr 2026Updated 11:40, 29 Apr 2026
Mikel Arteta has been told why Arsenal can beat Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final if they get past Atletico Madrid
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Mikel Arteta has been told why Arsenal can beat Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League final if they get past Atletico Madrid(Image: (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images))
Arsenal have been told by Clarence Seedorf their defensive solidity can win them the Champions League. The former AC Milan and Real Madrid midfielder has backed the Gunners to triumph after watching Paris Saint-Germain beat Bayern Munich 5-4 in their semi-final first leg.
Speaking on Amazon Prime Video, after that nine-goal thriller, he said: "The clean sheet was always sacred for goalkeepers, and we have seen a team like Arsenal making the difference this year having so many clean sheets and coming all the way.
"So if I have to point out one team now that would be capable, actually, to bring it home because of that capacity, it is actually Arsenal."
Harry Kane, Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Joao Neves, Michael Olise and Ousmane Dembele were all on target in the first half. Goals from the latter and Kvaratskhelia saw PSG jump into a 5-2 lead only for Dayot Upamecano and Luis Diaz to reduce the deficit and set up a thrilling second at Allianz Arena next Wednesday.
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The winner of PSG and Bayern Munich are likely to be favourites in the final due to their undeniable attacking quality with that clearly on show at the Parc des Princes. However, it is also worth noting that some of the defending was poor.
That is clearly where Seedorf is coming from with regard to his Arsenal admission and it is backed up by Mikel Arteta's side conceding just once across four knockout stage matches. However, it is worth pointing out that they have only scored four goals.
Atletico Madrid are the Gunners' semi-final opponents having dispatched of Barcelona and Tottenham in previous rounds.
The 4-0 victory over Diego Simeone's side in the group stage of the competition highlighted that Atletico have changed significant during his tenure. In previous years, the Spanish side were defensively astute and became known as masters of the dark arts.
There now seems to be a much heavier focus on attacking football with that spearheaded by Antoine Griezmann, Ademola Lookman and Julian Alvarez.
Julian Alvarez of Atletico Madrid looks on
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Julian Alvarez is Atletico Madrid's star player
The latter duo were both injury doubts for the first leg but Alvarez returned to the Atletico squad this past weekend and later confirmed he was fine to feature. On Tuesday morning, Lookman was spotted in team training after missing the last few weeks.
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Arteta has also been handed two fitness boosts with Eberechi Eze and Riccardo Calafiori both set to be involved. The former was forced off against Newcastle United on Saturday while the Italy international has not played since the first leg win over Sporting CP.
Jurrien Timber and Kai Havertz will miss the game though, as confirmed by Arteta. It looks to be a minor injury for Havertz while Timber has not played since mid-March.
When asked about the latter's recovery, Arteta said: "We don't know yet [if he will play again this season]. He's doing some stuff on the pitch at the moment. But we need to get the gears up and be able to do more things before he can come back to us."