Rice leads the way, White comes apart, and more from Arsenal's 1-1 draw at the Metropolitano.
If we’re being honest, I missed the first half of the other Champions League semifinal tie between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich. I was foiled by a last-minute Teams call from one of my clients that I couldn’t get away with ignoring. So I took it, and that led to more work, and that led to another call. Eventually, I lost track of time before I quick check of Bluesky alerted me to what was apparently the footballing spectacle of the century.
Sure enough, the score was 3-2 when I threw the game on just before the start of the second half. I settled in and watched in some awe as the current best two teams in Europe went blow for blow. Khvicha Kvaratskhelia and Ousmane Dembélé put the reigning Ligue 1 champions up by three goals before Dayot Upamecano nodded in a free kick and a beautiful Harry Kane ball allowed Luis Díaz to make it 5-4. It was end-to-end. It was exciting. It was a spectacle I’m sure every dreaded neutral salivated over.
Peter Schmeichel, whose main contribution in football punditry has been to bemoan teams who are good at things other than high-risk and high-octane football, was smiling from ear to ear after the match. He’d certainly gotten what he wanted. Jamie Carragher and Micah Richards gushed with praise in their postgame analysis. Everywhere you looked, the first leg of PSG’s and Bayern’s titanic clash understandably celebrated what they had seen as a credit to the sport.
But I quickly felt annoyance bubbling up inside me as I witness these rave reviews. Because I knew what would inevitably come next, and so it did — the whole world’s eyes simultaneously glazed over with disappointment as they remembered the other half of the semifinal bracket, the way a pair of cynical parents’ would as they glanced over at a misfit child after welcoming an older sibling home from winning an award at their school’s model United Nations event. The prospect of Atlético Madrid hosting Arsenal, of Diego Simeone and Mikel Arteta unleashing their combined, unadulterated football terrorism on the same pitch, invited scorn and mockery before a ball had even been kicked.
The overriding narrative used to frame this penultimate stage of the Champions League has been the creation of an existential war of values. On one side, the good guys — PSG and Bayern, who honor the spirit of “joga bonito” by turning every match into a shootout and only focusing on the one element of the game that deserves respect: scoring goals. On the other side, the boring villains — Atlético Madrid and Arsenal, who insist on bastardizing the sport by emphasizing tactics, defensive structures, and off-ball discipline. Instead of making football feel like a Michael Bay film, the spiteful nerds running those two clubs are hellbent on turning the beautiful game into a chess match. Yawn!
Unsurprisingly, the narrative here is lazy and outdated. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that Atleti have more in common with Bayern and PSG than they do with Arsenal this season. The three other semifinalists, including Simeone’s men (who have now scored 104 goals and conceded 73 in the current campaign), are extremely attack-minded outfits boasting some of the best offensive talent in the world. For one reason or another, the trio are able to take their foot off the gas in their respective leagues; Bayern has already wrapped up first place with four games to spare, PSG are six points ahead at the summit despite barely playing their stars in Ligue 1 this season, and Atleti are 25 points behind leaders Barcelona and therefore don’t have much to play for. This means that all three teams can rest their best players on weekends without suffering for it, which leads to those players being as fit as they can be at the business end of Europe’s most elite tournament.
Arsenal don’t have such a luxury. The Premier League is currently more grueling than ever. To attempt a match in it with your best players purposefully rested is to invite disaster. The Gunners, as they write the final chapter of a season of grinding it out, are digging deep into their energy reserves to get through every remaining match.
For me, that was the primary worry going into Wednesday’s trip to the Metropolitano. Would the likes of Julián Alvarez, Antoine Griezmann, and Ademola Lookman have so much more energy than their opponents that they could flex their directness and lethality to devastating effect? Would Arsenal not have enough left in the tank to compete with their biggest challenge of the Champions League knockout rounds so far?
Evidently, it did not prove to be the difference on Wednesday. Although Atleti enjoyed multiple spells during which they produced some extremely threatening moments in and around Arsenal’s penalty area, particularly at the start of the second half, Arteta’s men were able to match their hosts for the most part and create some goalscoring opportunities of their own. Ultimately the match finished as a draw, with both sides converting penalties that probably wouldn’t be awarded in the Premier League. Arsenal finished the match strongly, sustaining waves of attacks as they searched for a later winner (which should have been a second penalty, but we’ll get to that in a bit). On the whole, a draw feels like a fair result given how much Arteta’s men rode their luck at times. But for me, it is a performance that provides encouragement ahead of a showdown at the Emirates Stadium.
But perhaps the most enjoyable part of this match was the statement it made about different approaches to the sport. Even with Simeone’s current side not as defensively gifted as his past teams have been, Atleti and Arsenal expectedly did not play a breathless basketball match. The hosts switched to a back five in the second half. The Gunners often took their time to build attacks, making sure their rest defense was prepared. And yet, Wednesday’s match only produced 0.76 xG less than the acclaimed footballing bonanza we witnessed on Tuesday. Atleti and Arsenal combined for more shots than PSG and Bayern did. Maybe, just maybe, there is more than one correct way to play football.
Ballers
Declan Rice
Recently, Rice has exhibited something of a dip in form. In the past couple of matches, I would hazard a guess that he was playing through some sort of issue. Of course, if there is any player who can be forgiven for going a bit off the boil, it’s the Englishman. At Atleti, Rice crossed the 4,000 minute mark on the season. And yet, he continues to be a shining example on the pitch.
On Wednesday Rice achieved 99 touches, the most of any player in this week’s Champions League semifinal matches. He also completed 83 passes, the second-most by an English midfielder in a Champions League semifinal since records for that stat started in the 2003/04 season. 14 of the passes went into the final third while three of his four long passes found their target. He also made six defensive contributions and won two of his three ground duels.
However, the key takeaway from Rice’s performance from me is where he spent most of his time throughout the match. The Englishman operated from deeper in midfield than he has for much of this season, as Martín was able venture forward as more of a six-eight hybrid on the day. Rice was typically the one dropping between the center backs to play out through Atleti’s aggressive press, and was the midfielder making the most crucial interventions to deny the hosts’ attacks. The result was a much better balance in the center of the park.
He was still able to contribute going forward, of course. Rice saw a shot go just wide of Jan Oblak’s goal in the 89th minute and popped up in the right half-space quite a bit. But with him as the de facto six in Wednesday’s midfield configuration, Arsenal’s ball progression was better than it has been for quite some time. I hope it’s something the Gunners keep doing moving forward.
David Raya
While I do think Arsenal were pretty solid at the Metropolitano, credit needs to go where credit is due. And the truth is, they would not still be in this tie if it weren’t for Raya. The Spaniard was magnificent between the sticks yet again for the Gunners, denying attempts for Atleti my brain had already convinced me were bulging the net.
For instance, Raya leapt to the rescue to deny Alvarez in the 14th minute when the Argentinian deftly turned and shot at the left side of the Arsenal keeper’s net. He also kept out two close-range attempts from Lookman in the second half. And he was alert to Alvarez’s potential Olimpico goal, coming to the rescue once more.
At this level, the margins are incredibly fine. Let in a goal and that could be it. So having a keeper who is as consistently able to prevent goals as Raya is… well, that makes all the difference.
Viktor Gyökeres
After an annoying performance against Newcastle, the Swede redeemed himself reasonably in Madrid. Late in the first half, Gyökeres was shoved off the ball in Atleti’s box by Dávid Hancko, resulting in the awarding of a penalty by the referee. And as he has done a few times now this season, Gyökeres stepped up and slammed home a spot kick to change the game state for the Gunners. He is far from one of the best players I’ve ever seen in an Arsenal shirt, but damn can that guy take a penalty.
He only had 15 touches so there isn’t much else to discuss, but Gyökeres was unfortunate not to head home with an assist to his name as well. In the 15th minute, the Swede built up a head of steam while carrying the ball down the channel, barreling past Atleti’s defenders before firing in a cross that found Martin Ødegaard near the hosts’ penalty spot. The skipper unfortunately saw his shot blocked, but it was another good moment for Gyökeres. Hopefully he’s built up some form ahead of this weekend’s match against Fulham.
Eberechi Eze
Eze replacing Ødegaard was Arteta’s answer to Atleti’s back five granting the hosts dominance over proceedings for much of the second half. For the most part, it really seemed to work. The Englishman came on and immediately provided Arsenal with more presence in the final third and at the top of Atleti’s penalty area.
In just over half an hour Eze created three chances, including a lovely bit of combination play that saw Cristhian Mosquera have a very compelling pop at goal. His interplay around the box was slick and quick, allowing his side to turn the screw as they tried to snatch a second goal. He also finished with three touches in the box, four passes into the final third, and both of his long balls completed.
What everyone will remember of course is how painfully close Eze came to earning a second penalty for Arsenal. In the 78th minute Bukayo Saka passed to Eze, who had slipped into the box. After tapping the ball away to try to round his man, Eze saw his foot stepped on by Hancko before the Englishman went down. And, well, we all know what happened next (I promise I will talk about it very soon). Iwrote a piece this week about how Eze is the “moments player” Arsenal have been searching so long for, and his instant impact on Wednesday only serves to underline that point.
The Non-Negotiables is a reader-supported publication. To support my work, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. The paid subscription is more of a “tip jar” option; there are no additional benefits, you would just be exercising your generosity. Either way, I am grateful for your readership.
Fallers
Leandro Trossard
I think Trossard is out of juice, I genuinely do. The Belgian came on in the 68th minute to provide attacking quality and ball security in the final third, and I’m not sure he achieved either of those things. His first involvement in the match was keeping possession for too long and getting steamrolled by two Atleti players, before watching them barrel toward Arsenal’s penalty area.
Then there was his decision to try an ill-advised shot on the turn when Piero Hincapié was free in the box to his left. The shot, of course, was blocked. And there continue to be moments when a bit of quick thinking would open up defenses and perhaps lead to a good opportunity for Arsenal and instead Trossard chooses to put his foot on the ball and slow things down to a halt. It was a very poor cameo for the forward and I’m just not sure if we can expect to see anything helpful from him from here on out.
Ben White
White is another Arsenal player whom I worry is past it. When I saw him in the starting lineup, I couldn’t help but feel concern at the prospect of him dealing with Lookman one-on-one. However, I think he did rather well at keeping the Nigerian quiet in the first half.
But in the second half, I think White went to pieces a little. Especially after unfortunately conceding the penalty that led to Atleti’s equalizer, the Englishman struggled for the remainder of his time on the pitch. Lookman got the better of him repeatedly and was unlucky not to leverage that into a goal for the hosts. White finished with one of four ground duels won and one of three aerial duels won. I’d be lying if I said I don’t think Mosquera should play right back over him for the balance of the season.
Danny Makkelie
“Come on, do you really want to be the guy who givesthree penalties in a Champions League semifinal?”
“Diego Simeone has my family tied up in a basement. Please man, I need you to overturn this call for the love of God!”
“Hey mate, this is Jamie O’Hara. Listen, I couldn’t bear to see Arsenal reach a Champions League final while my beloved Spurs get relegated. If you overturn this, I’ll pay you every cent I made fromLove Undercover!”
Those are the three things that strike me as the most likely reasonings VAR gave the referee for him to inexplicably overturn the penalty he gave for Hancko’s foul on Eze. They all certainly make a lot more sense than telling Makkelie that if he just watches the sequence at least a dozen times like he did, he’ll understand that it wasn’t really a foul. And if Makkelie was a remotely respectable referee, he would have realized that too.
The facts are pretty simple. Eze touched the ball first. Hancko then trod on his foot and Eze went down because of it. At no point did Hancko make contact with the ball, certainly not before he fouled Eze. And this all happened within the confines of Atleti’s penalty area. Logically speaking this means, unless I’m about to look outside and see pigs flying, that Hancko has committed a penalty. And no professional standard of review, whether it is “clear and obvious error” or “having a second look just to make sure”, should conceivably lead a competent referee to conclude otherwise.
But Makkelie didn’t officiate the match based on logic or professionalism. He effectively handed Simeone the whistle and polled the Metropolitano before deciding what his professional opinion on any incident was. He allowed himself to be intimidated into obedience by the home crowd, shirking his duties as a referee in club football’s most prestigious competition and changing the course of asemifinal because he was afraid of upsetting a crowd. For me, that can only mean one thing: Makkelie is a sniveling little coward who is unfit to referee matches on patchy neighborhood pitches, let alone on the biggest stages in the world.
If you enjoyed this post, please consider following me on Twitter@Shamsdale or on Bluesky@shamsdale.bsky.social.