Arsenal were compared to prime 2013-16 Atletico Madrid as they crushed their Spanish opponents 4-0 in a ruthless Champions League display built on incredible defensive organisation and finished off with precision finishing.
The Gunners scored four goals in 14 minutes as they thrashed Diego Simeone’s men at The Emirates to continue their perfect start to the league phase of the Champions League.
Centre-back Gabriel Magalhaes opened the scoring in the 57th-minute with a trademark header from Declan Rice’s free-kick, and that began a devastating spell for Arsenal as the home side made their usually solid opponents suffer.
Gabriel Martinelli scored with a curled shot after a driving run from left-back Myles Lewis-Skelly, before striker Viktor Gyokeres bundled in his first Arsenal goal for eight matches.
The Sweden international then got his second of the night three minutes later when he converted Gabriel’s knockdown from another dangerous Arsenal corner.
The result means Mikel Arteta’s men have won their opening three games of the competition and have still yet to concede a goal.
Their display drew comparisons with Atletico when they were in their absolute pomp under Simeone, with Icelandic writer Kári Tulinius commenting during the match: “It occurs to me that Arteta’s Gunners aren’t a million miles away from the 2013-16 Atléti, which I tend to think of as ‘pure uncut Simeone’.
“Even though they were built on the foundation of a rock-solid defense, they would routinely blow teams away. Once they got the opening goal, often from a set-piece, if the other side came on to them, they’d tear them to shreds.”
A fair reflection of their eventual dominance in the game, with Arsenal once again showcasing their defensive strength before putting their foot on the gas when they had Atletico exactly where they wanted them.
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Gyokeres shows his quality
It was a particularly memorable night for Arsenal forward Gyokeres, who was starting to draw some criticism for his goal drought.
Speaking after the game to Uefa, the Swede said: “I am very pleased. They had some good opportunities but I think we controlled it overall.
“To score four and keep a clean sheet again is very good. We always keep going. We do the things right when we defend and when we get the chances we are extremely strong in taking those.
“Both [my] goals were great. I try to do my best all the time and work hard, contribute with different stuff and the goals would have come sooner or later.
“We want to do well, we want to win football matches but there’s a long journey to go. We will take it game-by-game, even if that sounds boring.”
Arteta, meanwhile, added: “It was a tough match. After the goal they opened up a bit and it was a little easier for us to find the spaces. Very happy with the result.
“At this level in the Champions League you really need to step up and we certainly did that in every phase of the play. Very happy.”
Viktor Gyökeres couldn’t miss 😎
He doubles his tally vs Atletico as Arsenal go FOUR-NIL up 💪 pic.twitter.com/hLa9aeMs27
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) October 21, 2025
On Gyokeres finding his scoring touch again, he added: “Delighted as he fully deserved it. The workrate he brings to the team is outstanding.
“We value a lot of things that he does for the team and it was the biggest smile on his face today and look at his team-mates.
“Hopefully this is the start of some beautiful sequences.”
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