UEFA CL: Arsenal - Atlético Madrid, history is played out at the Emirates
On Tuesday 5 May, at 19:00 GMT at the Emirates Stadium, Arsenal host Atlético de Madrid for a one-sided 1-1 return leg of the Champions League. The score brought back from Madrid last week by the Gunners leaves everything open, everything possible, everything to fear. For some, it is the opportunity to have a first European final in twenty years. For others, it is the last chance to regain the top of the continent after a decade of frustration.
Philemon MBALE · Author profile ·
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This return leg semi-final promises to be historic for an Arsenal that marks a milestone the twentieth anniversary of its last, and only, appearance in the final of the Champions League. It was in 2006, against Barcelona, with Jens Lehmann sent off after 18 minutes and a 2-1 defeat at the end of the suspense. Since then, the Gunners have been looking for that scene. They reached the semi-finals in two consecutive seasons for the first time in their history, proof of their progress. And tonight, they have a new chance to reach the final stage.
The numbers make a case for them. Arsenal have only lost two of their last 23 Champions League matches, with a record of 17 wins and 4 draws, and remain unbeaten in the competition this season with 10 wins and 3 draws (1st in the championship phase). At home, the table is even more eloquent: the Londoners have lost only one of their last 24 European matches at the Emirates, with 17 wins and 6 draws, keeping their goal inviolable 17 times during these 23 European confrontations at home. Moreover, Arsenal is the best defense of the competition this season with only six goals conceded.
Opposite, Diego Simeone arrives with his own statistics and his own story. This is the seventh semi-final of the Atlético European Cup, with a record of three qualifiers and three eliminations. The Colchoneros play their first C1 semi-final since 2016/17, when they lost to Real Madrid. And to come back to it, they showed a remarkable solidity: after being crushed 4-0 at the Emirates in the league phase, they fought back to beat Bruges, Tottenham then Barça en route to this last four. All facilitated by a prodigious Ademola Lookman since his arrival this winter. The Nigerian has two goals and one assist.
The Madrid team is formidable at this stage of the competition, with six wins in its last seven European semi-finals. But tonight, Simeone must compose without several of his key men. Julián Álvarez, who scored the equaliser in the first leg, Giuliano Simeone, José María Giménez, Alexander Sørloth, Dávid Hancko and Marcos Llorente are expected to be missed. A list of absentees that weighs heavily in a match of this level.
Arsenal is not spared either. Mikel Merino, Kai Havertz and Jurrien Timber should also forfeit this clash. And a huge uncertainty about the presence of Martin Ødegaard, the captain and brain of the London game. Without him, it’s the entire mechanics of Arteta that will have to reconfigure themselves.