Arteta will seek to use perceived injustices as Arsenal fuel after Atlético anger

The only way Makkelie could do so would be to say that the contact was insufficient to send Eze tumbling over. Or, to put it another way, the Arsenal player had dived. Well, that is what happened. According to Uefa and its VAR technical explanation bulletin, the “Atleti player, No 17 [Hancko], did not commit a foul on the opponent”.

After Makkelie’s revised decision, the Atlético manager Diego Simeone waved an imaginary card in the air, presumably wanting a yellow for Eze, and the episode has left a bitter taste for Arteta. Most impartial onlookers felt that Pope’s offence for Newcastle did not merit a red card and that Khusanov defended his position fairly against Havertz. But if those decisions were enough to stir the paranoia in Arteta, then what about this one? Because it was illogical. And as for the kicker in terms of Eze’s integrity …

A penalty initially awarded after David Hancko stepped on Eberechi Eze’s foot was overturned after VAR intervened. Photograph: Ángel Martínez/Getty Images

It feels as if Arteta is in siege mentality mode, ripe to be nibbled at by his rivals. Some of Simeone’s comments after the first leg – which finished 1-1 – appeared to be loaded. “We saw a bit the tiredness that Arsenal have accumulated from so many games, from so much responsibility, from trying to win the Premier League, where they are top,” he said. “They have to win the Champions League; they have won 10 games [in the competition], had no defeats, so all that accumulates …”

Simeone was critical of Makkelie’s decision to award the first penalty of the game for a foul by Hancko on Gyökeres. The Arsenal striker converted for 1-0. Atlético were then themselves given a penalty, scored by Julián Alvarez, after the VAR advised that Marcos Llorente’s shot had hit Ben White’s outstretched hand.

“The first penalty, in my humble opinion, there is a contact on the back, he [Gyökeres] waits for the contact, throws himself …” Simeone said. “In the semi-final of the Champions League, it needs to be a penalty. Thanks to VAR there was a handball that wasn’t [given] and thanks to VAR, there’s a penalty not given. Sometimes VAR takes from you, sometimes it gives to you.”

What Arteta must do as he looks to Tuesday’s second leg is use the feeling that Arsenal are being persecuted as fuel. He also needs to devise a gameplan that can better cut through Atlético’s lines. In the final analysis from Wednesday, the biggest positive for the visitors came in how they took control of the ball and the tempo after a difficult opening 10 minutes.

Atlético Madrid’s fans saw their side press more effectively in the second half. Photograph: Kieran McManus/Shutterstock

They were the better team from that point to half-time. But what did they create of clearcut note? There were a couple of eye-catching surges from Noni Madueke and a chance for Martin Ødegaard on the counterattack. Plus the Gyökeres penalty. There was little from them in the second half apart from the Eze penalty that wasn’t. Atlético turned the tide, pressing more effectively, and might have scored more than once. Ademola Lookman missed two big chances and Antoine Griezmann hit the crossbar and might have done better with two other openings.

“We wanted the win,” the Atlético goalkeeper, Jan Oblak, said. “We didn’t get it but that doesn’t change the fact that we played well. Arsenal didn’t have space, they hardly created chances and we did have them. We leave with a good feeling. What matters is that we feel positive looking ahead.”

Arteta will hope to have Eze and Saka available from the start for the return and maybe Havertz back from injury. Those players would make a difference. Atlético’s Alvarez, meanwhile, must shrug off the problem that forced him to go off in the 77th minute. The last word for now went to Llorente and it was difficult to disagree with him. “It is two teams with very clear ideas,” he said. “It will be another war.”