Our under-19s fell to a 4-3 defeat against Atletico Madrid in the UEFA Youth League, in a gritty display at the Mangata Developments Stadium on Tuesday, October 21.
Harrison Dudziak opened the scoreline early on, after he completed a silked move by David Horseman's side that began from the halfway line.
We were soon pegged back, however, when Sergio Vinatea pulled the trigger from range to level the tie.
Max Dowman restored our lead from the spot before half time, after he sent the Madrid goalkeeper the wrong way.
The goals continued to fly in after the break, and the visitors equalised through a penalty of their own, which Sergio Esteban converted.
The away side took the lead moments later through Ruben Gomez, who did well to turn his defender and fire an effort beyond Jack Porter.
A third spot kick of the game was awarded in our favour ten minutes from time, which Dowman fired home to double his tally.
But Madrid had one last sting in their tail, however, when Barrios arrived at the back post to steer his side ahead late on to take home all three points.
What happened
We got off to the perfect start when Ife Ibrahim brought down a high ball and laid off Dowman, who drove forward on a signature run. The England under-19 international picked out Brando Bailey-Joseph down the right flank, before Dudziak, who had timed his run superbly, met the cross to finish a fluid move by our young Gunners.
A feisty first ten minutes saw Dowman and Osman Kamara both suffer from heavy challenges, in a move allowed to play on by the referee when Bailey-Joseph had picked up the scraps. Our winger drilled a low cross across Daniel Rubio's goal, but there was no one there to tap home.
The visitors found an equaliser just after a quarter of an hour played through Vinatea, who collected a clearance from the preceding corner kick on the edge of Porter's box and unleashed a strike that nestled into the bottom left corner.
Our no. 1 was called into action again straight from the restart, this time to deny a lively Jesus Barrios, who had weaved his way to the near post, but Porter made himself big to deny the young Spaniard.
We were awarded a penalty after 26 minutes played when Vinatea fouled Harriman-Annous in an off-ball incident spotted by the officials. After much debate over whether the offence had occurred before or after an offside flag, the penalty stood, and Dowman stepped up to convert, sending the 'keeper the wrong way, and retook the lead.
Los Colcheneros came close to levelling just after the half an hour mark when Barrios slotted a neat pass through to Esteban, who only had Porter to beat, but Porter made sure to spread himself once more and deflect away.
We almost extended our lead just before the interval when Dowman sent Harriman-Annous through one-on-one with Rubio, but the goalkeeper made a good save from the narrow angle.
After the interval, our opponents started brighter, with Porter called into action to deny Gomez. The Spaniard continued to pull the strings for Atletico Madrid, with an intricate pass through to Esteban, which looked destined for the net, but the striker failed to test our goalkeeper.
Our opponents won a penalty of their own on 55 minutes. Josiah King committed a foul for Esteban to step up and place his strike to Porter's right and earn themselves a second foothold in the match.
We were behind moments later, Gomez again with a smart piece of skill to wrong-foot Washington and create space for him to cut back on to his left foot and curl past Porter, to make it 3-2 for the Spanish side.
With time ticking into the final ten minutes, we pushed to find an equaliser and were rewarded with a second penalty when substitute Ceadach O'Neill was dragged down inside Rubio's box. Dowman was on duty once more to step up from the spot and did not fail to level the tie at 3-3.
The score did not stay that way for long, however, as Atletico Madrid were quick off the restart to put pressure on our defence, and with a scramble in the box not cleared, Barrios picked up a loose ball at the back post to fire his side ahead 4-3.
Seven minutes of stoppage time were added on, but Atletico Madrid were steely in defence, whilst also offering a counter-attack threat to see the game out.
What It Means
We've reached the halfway stage in the league phase, and the result leaves us still searching for our first points in the league phase, with three matches left to play.
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How the UEFA Youth League works](https://www.arsenal.com/news/how-uefa-youth-league-works?utm_source=arsenaldotcom&utm_medium=embedded-article&utm_campaign=news)
What’s Next
Attention now turns to matchday four, when we travel to the Czech Republic to take on Slavia Prague on Tuesday, November 4. Kick-off is at 5:45pm (UK time).
[Read more
2025/26 UEFA Youth League fixtures confirmed](https://www.arsenal.com/news/202526-uefa-youth-league-fixtures-confirmed?utm_source=arsenaldotcom&utm_medium=embedded-article&utm_campaign=news)
TEAMS
Arsenal XI: Porter, Washington (Ogunnaike 64), Sweet (Agustien), Salmon, King (O'Neill 82), Ibrahim, Dudziak (Hamill 54), Dowman, Kamara (Zecevic John 64), Harriman-Annous, Bailey-Joseph.
Subs not used: Ranson, Clarke, Julienne, Thompson, Julienne.
Olympiacos XI: Rubio, Grant (Martinez 71), Munoz (Sancho 71), Gil Rodriguez, Gomez (Kemo Badji 72, Fitzgerald 77), Fernandez Garcia (Tena 63), Barrios, Vinatea, Esteban, Zanzi, Rajado.
Subs not used: Piqueras, Torrellas, Tamargo.
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