Arsenal 1-0 Atletico Madrid: Budapest here we come!

Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Video

We’re in the Champions League final! That’s a really nice way to wake up and start your Wednesday. Wherever you are in the world right now, whatever time it is, just take a moment to stop and think about that.

It wasn’t long ago that this club didn’t have any European football at all. We returned to the Champions League in the 2023-24 season, and made the quarter-finals. A respectable showing all things considered. Last year, we got the semi-finals, falling short at the semi-final stage to the eventual winners. This time around, we’ve gone one better again, and on May 30th we’ll compete for the game’s biggest European trophy against either PSG or Bayern Munich.

This season has taken Arsenal fans on one hell of a journey, and Budapest is literally the final destination. It’s only the second time we’ve come this far in the Champions League, and much like we had unfinished business in a European semi-final against Atletico Madrid and Diego Simeone, the same applies for the final.

I thought Mikel Arteta’s team selection was brave, sticking with the XI that played so well against Fulham, and keeping Myles Lewis-Skelly in midfield. That, in particular, was a surprise to me, but if Saturday was something between a show of faith and a trial run, playing a 19 year old in this game, in this competition, against this opposition, well and truly demonstrates there’s a future there for him going forward.

By and large I thought we had the better of a first half which was relatively cagey, and not at all unexpectedly so. There was an early moment for the visitors, but Declan Rice was there to block it away, and after that we took control. People have said this isn’t the Atletico of old, but as they set up with a back 5 and got 11 men behind the ball, you couldn’t help but think they were resorting to a default style the manager likes above all else. When you saw Antoine Griezmann celebrating the fact he chased back and denied Viktor Gyokeres a corner, you knew their outlook was about denying us rather than going to get us at the top end of the pitch.

There were some nearly moments. A Gabriel shot that went wide; a fizzing Lewis-Skelly cross which no Arsenal player anticipated well enough; and a shout for a penalty on Leandro Trossard but I thought it was just about the right decision not to award it, based on the fact I’d be cross if it happened up the other end. Then, just before the break, we found a way through.

William Saliba’s pass down the line was excellent, and – as was the case all night – Gyokeres’ movement was really good and his hold up play secure. His cross came to Trossard who, in front of a crowd of players, got the ball out of his feet and cracked a shot which Jan Oblak saved. In the meantime though, Saka’s movement and anticipation was first class as he crept between two defenders, and when the ball spilled he was there to knock home the rebound to make it 1-0. Scoring at any time is good, but just before the break is a kind of dagger to the heart that inflicts maximum pain on the opposition.

Despite not making any subs at the break, Atletico had the better of the second half early on. Overall the balance changed considerably, as we went from 68% possession in the first 45 minutes to 36% in the second, but then we had something to protect. And one of the great strengths of this Arsenal team is the defensive quality we have. Not quite playing them at their own game, but it is funny to me how when Simeone does it he’s master of football parsimony and bastardry, but when it’s Arsenal it’s just framed as something completely negative.

If that’s your outlook, fine, but if you think what we saw from Ben White, Saliba, Gabriel, Calafiori, Declan Rice, Piero Hincapie when he came on, and the collective discipline and organisation of this team, is actually negative, you’re off your rocker. Let’s be honest, we don’t have the elite attacking talent of some other European teams, but we rendered Julian Alvarez and Griezmann, two stellar talents, basically useless. Our defenders were brilliant, committed and dogged, and to me that’s just a different way to be good at football. For those lucky enough to remember our last European trophy win, 1-0 to the Arsenal is like manna from heaven to some extent.

It’s also really quite funny to listen to some ex-pros, particularly the ones on Premier Sports in Ireland last night, castigate Arsenal’s style. They’d be the first to label us stupid and naive if we played in a more cavalier way, and ultimately they have created this ideal of how football should be played that is so far removed from anything they were capable of as players themselves. It’s dishonest analysis because if you can’t see that this aspect of the game is something to appreciate, you’re being willfully obtuse.

Atletico made changes, we made changes. They huffed and puffed but got little joy in our final third. There was a moment when the ref blew for a foul on Gabriel before Calafiori fouled Griezmann and that was, I will admit, a touch fortunate, but we’re not always a team who enjoys being on the right side of stuff like that, so a rare moment of good fortune felt a bit overdue to me.

I will say, I couldn’t help but dwell on the Gyokeres chance that he put over when Hincapie’s brilliant ball found him on the penalty spot. It felt like the kind of moment that could come back to haunt us, and he really should bury it, but otherwise the big Swede was superb, winning his duels, running the channels over and over again, and it’s like a switch has been flicked somewhere with him. Hopefully he’s just saving his goal for the final.

If the final few minutes on the sideline were tense and tetchy, what does anyone expect with managers like Simeone and Arteta, backed up by people like Gabriel Heinze and Nelson Vivas? It’s a surprise there weren’t bats and knuckle-dusters involved. We were desperate for the final whistle, they were desperate because they knew they had offered so little throughout from an attacking perspective, and thus needed a kind of Hail Mary moment to save the game. Both managers got booked, Calafiori Kepa got booked, Andrea Berta got into a scuffle with Simeone as the Italian gestured wildly at his watch, but in the end we made that final few minutes disgusting and scrappy and that’s exactly what you have to do in circumstances like this.

It’s what they would have done if the scorelines were reversed and we’d never have heard the end of it about how their manager is a master of the dark arts and blah blah f*cking blah. The final whistle went, the stadium erupted, and everyone – players, staff, fans – was absolutely right to celebrate that win and what it means. I had to turn off the TV last night because they were so utterly miserable about the kind of game they wanted it to be, they didn’t see it for what it was. It also demonstrated a complete lack of understanding about how fans feel.

For a long time, Arsenal – despite our perceived pedigree and consistency – were not a serious team in Europe. All those Round of 16 exits to Barcelona and Bayern and even Monaco. 10-2 aggregate scores. Messi single-handedly destroying us. The inevitability of defeat was part of our experience. Not any more. This is a serious outfit, one which has established itself rapidly and impressively in the Champions League, in my view, and nobody will look at this Arsenal side and think we’re an easy touch. Arsenal fans have been through a lot, in the past and in the process of building this current side, and reaching a Champions League final is something to be celebrated and enjoyed, not dismissed by some lump like Cunny Kenningham, and an ex-Chelsea player whose best years were under Jose Mourinho whose approach and success was built on fastidious defensiveness. Miserable twats.

I downloaded the game from elsewhere, and watched those moments again. The players and the fans in unison. Understanding what we’ve done to get to this point, and also understanding nothing has been won yet. Mikel Arteta’s drunk grandpa dancing with Leandro Trossard. These are experiences to cherish as a football fan. They don’t come around often, and as I said at the top, I hope wherever you are today, you remember that we need to stop and remember that moments like this don’t happen all the time. Drink it in while we’re going through it, because it doesn’t take much for your footballing cup to run dry.

20 years since Paris. 20 years! That’s how rare this is for us, and that’s how far we’ve come with this team. I also think, as we consider the impact of this game, it goes beyond getting to Budapest, and I hope we see the benefit of it in the final three league games we have play. If there was any sense that an exit last night might be offset by the potential to become Champions for the first time in 22 years (!), I couldn’t help but worry about how it might heap more pressure on those fixtures. I hope this is an energy boost, a confidence boost, a boost in belief and togetherness and unity and all the things we’re going to still need to do what we need to do to win the Premier League.

Speaking afterwards, Declan Rice said the dressing room was ‘chaos‘, Saka said it was a ‘beautiful story’, and in his post-game presser, Arteta said:

It’s an incredible night. We made history again together. I cannot be happier and prouder of everyone involved in this football club. The manner that we got to see outside the stadium was special and unique. The atmosphere that our supporters created, the energy, the way they lived every ball with us, it made it special and unique. I never felt that in the stadium. We knew how much it meant to everybody. We put everything in, the boys did an incredible job. After 20 years and for the second time in our history, we are back in the Champions League final.

We’ll find out later on who the opposition will be. Regardless, it’s going to be a really tough game, but I think that’s true the other way around too. We’re not in the Champions League final by accident, we’ve delivered results with incredible consistency from our first game against Athletic Club in September to last night against Atletico Madrid in May. Like almost everyone, I’ve experienced some doubts about this team along the journey of the 2025-26 season, but one thing I’ve never doubted is the attitude, the will to win and to perform, and to do whatever is necessary to get a result. It hasn’t always been pretty but there are no prizes for artistic merit in football.

The team, the manager, everyone behind the scenes deserve huge credit, and I thought the Arsenal fans yesterday were incredible. Even if others can’t, or choose not to see what we do, we know what these lads have done, we know how hard they’ve worked, and we recognise what we have still to achieve. When we were floundering around in mid-table as the club had to hit a kind of ‘rock bottom’, stuff like this felt like a pipe dream.

Now it’s our reality. Soak it up folks. There’s obviously more to do, and nothing is won yet, but this is a chance to make some history, and it’s something we should all relish.

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Right, I’ll leave it there. We will have an Arsecast for you a bit later on today, post-lunchtime at some point, but in the meantime I’m sure there’s enough #content to keep you occupied and entertained.

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