The Arsenal blueprint that ground down Atletico Madrid – and could take them to Champions League glory

Bukayo Saka sent Arsenal into the Champions League final (Reuters)

Duly, this semi-final win over Atletico Madrid - 1-0 on the night, 2-1 on aggregate - was almost characteristic of the entire season so far. Arsenal had to fight. It was painfully tense, with the lead so exactingly narrow.

And yet they persevered. They kept going, despite the usual doubts.

They had a lot of luck, especially with two penalty decisions, sure, but Arteta would say they deserved some; that it was just that same luck coming back around.

Almost fittingly for the occasion, the key players were all those who have endured different types of adversity this season. Bukayo Saka - injured for so long that Arsenal’s attack lost spark and debate grew over whether he would ever evolve into the player that consistently delivers at this level - got the goal that mattered. Viktor Gyokeres, so often maligned as a signing they shouldn’t have made, made the difference by setting that goal up. Myles Lewis-Skelly, for long periods discarded to the point that talk has risen over whether this teenage prodigy would be sold, offered the energy they had also been missing for long periods.

Viktor Gyokeres brought much-needed muscle to a scrap of a game (AP)

And they really did need it against a side that battles like Atletico.

As ugly as this game often was - almost typified by Gabriel headers was - it was hard not to feel some of the emotion and romance from it all.

On the other side, Diego Simeone doesn’t get that Champions League moment this season. The great Antoine Greizmann will now never get it, this defeat forming his last match in the competition.

Antoine Griezmann's Champions League career ended in defeat (Getty)

The harsher truth is, as supreme as he is in individual moments, you could see why. He couldn’t sustain it. Neither could Atletico. Once he was taken off, they had little. One snatched Alexander Sorloth chance wasn’t enough.

But that shouldn’t be confused with a lack of tension, a lack of suspense.

This was a heavy match, that required muscle.

Gyokeres provided it. The striker has often received warranted criticism for his struggles in holding the ball up, but here he was hunting for it, whole holding Atletico defenders off. Gyokeres made himself a nuisance.

Arsenal’s breakthrough came from that persistence. Gyokeres had chased what looked a lost cause to get free down the right, and suddenly open up a lot of space in the Atletico area.

The only issue is that it was all space beside the byline, limiting his options. Gyokeres picked the right one. He arched the ball over to Leandro Trossard, whose angled strike was well saved by Jan Oblak.

Bukayo Saka scored the winner on the rebound (PA)

Saka, however, had already made his move. Since his return, the winger has rightly attracted a lot of praise for the extra dimension he gives Arsenal through cutting in from the right, making it all the more remarkable that Atletico didn’t seem to notice.

So, there he was, in between two defenders to just tap in.

Gyokeres should have done the same later on.

It feels it can’t quite be Gyokeres 2025-26 without some caveat, though. He should really have made the game safe on 65 minutes, when substitute Piero Hincapie swept over the most inviting cross on the counter.

(Reuters)

Instead, with no one else around him and only Oblak to beat, Gyokeres got the bounce wrong and sent it over. That would have been too easy, after all. It wouldn’t have fit this match.

It has been said before that, in contrast to the expansiveness of Paris Saint-Germain against Bayern Munich, this was going to be a semi-final played in the margins. And not just in the margins, but right into each other.

There was one moment when Antoine Griezmann and Robin Le Normand vigorously celebrated the award of a goal kick, rather than a corner.

It was obviously always going to be that kind of game, so ensured that many of the key moments came down to interpretations of contact.

Arsenal could add to their list of grievances from the first leg, as Trossard seemed to be bundled by Griezmann.

This one didn’t feel as strong as some of Atletico’s claims, mind.

The biggest was when Giuliano Simeone appeared set to capitalise on a Declan Rice error, only to be denied by Gabriel. Or was it Gabriel? The replays didn’t seem to show the defender actually making contact with the ball as he jostled with Simeone until both lost their balance. A corner was given, but it felt like it should have been a penalty.

Minutes later, in the midst of Atletico’s best spell of pressure, Griezmann went down under a challenge from Riccardo Calafiori only for the referee to immediately signal a free-kick the other way for a Marc Pubill foul.

Gabriel was perhaps fortunate not to concede a penalty (Reuters)

Simeone was livid. Arsenal responded with the same energy. They won the fight. They won the game. They now have a chance of winning everything that matters.