After the cagey 1-1 draw in the Spanish capital last week, the onus was on the Gunners to overcome Diego Simeone’s side, as Hale End academy graduate and captain on the night Bukayo Saka tapped past Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak to give the Gunners a memorable night in north London.
As the battle for a plane ticket to Budapest commenced, Arsenal came out flying. Aggressive in their press and hungry to win the ball back high up the pitch, it seemed like Mikel Arteta had asked for a carbon copy of the energy and intensity his team exhibited against Fulham.
Arteta’s side were brave, looked confident in possession and pushed Atletico Madrid back, but the chances were, unsurprisingly, few and far between.
In contrast to the Gunners fast start, Atletico produced the first big chance of the game as the inevitably dangerous Julian Alvarez raced in between Declan Rice and William Saliba before scuffing his shot wide of David Raya’s goal.
The former Manchester City forward was at it again just minutes later when his perfectly executed pass found the path of Antoine Griezmann, but the Frenchman’s cutback was brilliantly blocked by the frame of Declan Rice.
Arsenal then had appeals for a penalty waved away after Leandro Trossard felt that he had been brought down by Griezmann inside the Atletico box but German referee Daniel Siebert certainly didn’t agree.
Despite a period of control from the visitors, Arsenal drew first blood.
The rejuvinated figure of Viktor Gyokeres harried Atletico defender David Hancko as a long ball dropped in front of the battling pair. The Sweden striker managed to wriggle away from pressure and find Leandro Trossard at the back post whose low shot was fumbled by Jan Oblak, leaving Bukayo Saka to react quickest and tap into an empty net.
The Emirates reached decibels it had perhaps never reached before. The stadium shook. Fans delirious. The ground had never exuberated a feeling quite like this.
Simeone’s side came out with their tails up, and came agonisingly close to restoring parity in the tie when Diego Simeone’s son, Guliano, capitalised on William Saliba’s poor header aimed for David Raya and rounded the Arsenal goalkeeper.
For all the world, it seemed certain that the Atleti winger would tap it into an empty net, but Saliba’s defensive partner Gabriel bailed the Frenchman out with an incredible block to keep Arsenal in control.
From thereon, the warning signs were there, but Arsenal held their own.
Simeone made three attacking subsitutions, so Arteta turned to his bench to command his team’s grip back on the game. Saka, Eze and Calafiori were all replaced by Noni Madueke, Martin Odegaard and Piero Hincapie, respectively.
Arsenal continued to press Atletico, eager to win the ball back at every opportunity, and should have put the tie to bed when Viktor Gyokeres fired over from close-range.
As the fourth official indicated an additional five minutes of stoppage time, the Arsenal let out a collective groan in disbelief, struggling to come to terms with the fact that they were being forced to wait for confirmation of their team making a first Champions League final since 2006.
But the Gunners held on to record their first Champions League final in 20 years as Mikel Arteta’s side jubilantly celebrated with the fans.
The Emirates, in its 20-year history, has arguably never seen a night like this before.
Arsenal are Champions League finalists, but it means so much more than that. After years of squad turnover and paying up players’ contracts with the aim of rebuilding the club back to where Mikel Arteta believed it needed to be, the Spaniard has so nearly delivered on what he said he wanted to do when he arrived in December of 2019.
Arsenal are back in the promiseland, and can dream of lifting the Champions League for the first time in their history when they face either Bayern Munich or PSG on May 30 at Puskas Arena in the Hungarian capital.
ANALYSIS
Team selection – Lewis-Skelly shines again
Fresh from his masterful midfield display in the 3-0 Premier League win over Fulham on Saturday, Myles Lewis-Skelly retained his place in Mikel Arteta’s starting line-up as the Arsenal boss named an unchanged eleven.
In the continued absence of first-choice right-back Jurrien Timber, Arteta kept faith with Ben White rather than choosing Cristhian Mosquera, despite the England international struggling for form in recent weeks.
Arteta revealed in his pre-match press conference on Monday that Kai Havertz and Martin Ødegaard had been included in the matchday squad, as both players were named on the bench.
Bukayo Saka and Viktor Gyokeres, both of whom scored and provided an assist for one another in the Fulham win, started in the attacking line with Leandro Trossard starting alongside them.
The first leg in Madrid last week was a cagey affair, but Arsenal emerged with a draw after Viktor Gyökeres and Julián Álvarez both netted penalties.
As Arsenal came out quickly with intent and a hunger to win the ball back at every opportunity, Atletico looked dangerous on the break. Reports coming out of Spain in early April suggested that the Gunners had registered serious interest in Alvarez after finding it difficult to get the best out of Viktor Gyokeres – a £64m investment as recent as last summer.
Alvarez really does look like the real deal but has had time on his side since the turn of the year. The Argentina striker has played more than 45 minutes just once in La Liga since January, and with Atletico already having qualified for the Champions League places next season, he was once again rested as Diego Simeone’s much-changed side won 2-0 at Villareal on Saturday.
For Mikel Arteta, he has not had that luxury.
Arsenal have been in a title race for the ages. Not quite like the days of Pep Guardiola and Jurgen Klopp hitting back and forth at each other and amassing a total of 195 points between them, but the level of the Premier League has risen from the bottom.
Arsenal lost at home to Bournemouth on April 11 before the chastening 2-1 defeat to City just eight days later opened the door for Guardiola’s men. The likes of Declan Rice, Martin Zubimendi, Gabriel, and several others have not been afforded a break.
That is the relentlessness of the Premier League for you. Bournemouth might qualify for the Champions League this season – a club with a stadium capacity of no more than 11,500 seats.
Having said all of that, Arsenal seem to have rediscovered themselves at the perfect time. Saturday’s drubbing of Fulham allowed Arteta to rest key stars like Rice and Saka as both players were withdrawn in the second half of that match.
Arteta asked for his players to take the shape of ‘beasts’ before the match, and his players, once again, responded to the message.
Never before has Viktor Gyokeres looked like he used the width of his broad shoulders to fend off pressure from a big centre-half before bringing the ball down under control and releasing it to one of his teammates like he did against Atletico. The former Sporting striker exuded belief and produced a performance empowered by the feeling of sheer confidence in his own ability.
Bukayo Saka, seemingly determined to prove his doubters wrong, scored for the second game running, tapping into an empty net after Oblak fumbled Leandro Trossard’s effort.
Yes, Saka has a big role to play for Arsenal and carries the weight of expectation on his shoulders for both club and country, but his natural-born talent is what sets him apart from the rest.
He should, and most likely will, be Thomas Tuchel’s first-choice right-sided winger for England at the USA this summer as England competes in the 2026 World Cup.
But Arsenal have missed Saka so dearly. In a season where his attacking numbers have suffered as a result of a string of injuries, his reintegration to the team seems to have offered Arsenal something completely different in attack.
Should Atleti have been awarded a penalty?
Simeone’s team may have taken inspiration from their own performance in Madrid last week and maybe even a bit from Arsenal’s when Eberechi Eze was denied a late penalty at the Wanda Metropolitano last Wednesday.
This week, it was Atletico’s turn to test the steel of the VAR. Guliano Simeone was afforded space to take a touch beyond David Raya after William Saliba had misjudged the flight of a long ball, and Simeone hit the deck once Gabriel had recovered to make a challenge.
Replays showed that the Brazilian had initially made contact with the Argentine and was able to knock the Atletico winger off balance, crashing to the floor. Ultimately, the contact was deemed not enough to award the spot kick as Gabriel’s blushes were spared.
Ultimately, Saka’s single goal on the night was enough to take Arsenal past Atleti and into the Champions League final for the first time in 20 years.
The Gunners will face either PSG or Bayern Munich at the Puskas Arena in Budapest on May 30 with the chance to lift the famous trophy for the first time in the club’s history.