Key events
42 min: A slight sense of frustration in the crowd now, with Arsenal no longer as dominant as they were during the early exchanges.
40 min: Eze and Rice busy themselves down the left flank but Atleti hold their shape and the move peters out.
38 min: Zubimendi is booked for his third cynical nibble from behind in as many minutes. That means he’ll be suspended for Arsenal’s next Champions League fixture at Slavia Prague.
Martinelli goal disallowed
36 min: Saka dribbles into the box from the right. He gets past Giménez with ease and fires a low cross into the six-yard box. Martinelli turns home at the far post, but he’s gone way too early and is clearly offside. Up goes the flag.
35 min: Saka takes the resulting free kick. He pulls it back for Zubimendi, who floats a chip into the box. It’s easily cleared. An intricate training-ground move that didn’t come off.
33 min: Gyökeres steams down the right, knocks the ball past Giménez, then runs slap-bang into him. A cynical block that earns the Atleti player the first booking of the game.
31 min: The corner’s a waste of everyone’s time.
30 min: Gyökeres goes over in the Atleti box, claiming to have been wrestled to the floor by Gimenez. VAR has a look at a potential penalty, but there’s nothing in it, and nothing doing. Arsenal have forced a corner, though, which Saka will now send in.
28 min: Alvarez takes down a ball in the centre circle, then spins and powers around Gabriel. He flies all the way to the edge of the Arsenal box, by which time Gabriel has recovered some ground and Saliba has come over to help. Alvarez can’t get a shot away in time, and the chance is gone. Arsenal’s centre-back pairing did well to deal with that situation.
26 min: Timber has a whack from distance. Less whack, more dribble. Easy for Oblak.
25 min: Raya comes out of his box on the Atleti right, in the hope of ushering a misplaced Atleti pass out for a goal kick. But there’s not enough pace on the ball, and Simeone nips in to steal it off him. Raya does enough to block the ball out for a throw, but as he’s trotting back, Simeone takes a quick throw to Alvarez, who steers a shot from the right touchline towards the unguarded goal. Arsenal – and particularly Raya – are extremely fortunate that the ball bounces wide left. Nearly a calamitous error by Raya.
23 min: Saka robs Barrios on the halfway line and for a second the break looks on. But Saka is strangely slow to take off, and Barrios comes back at him to nick the ball away.
22 min: Atleti ping it around at high speed, avoiding the Arsenal press but going nowhere in particular. Both teams have found their feet and are well in this game now.
20 min: Oblak is fine to continue.
19 min: Eze, dropping deep, releases Saka down the inside-right channel with a forensic pass. Saka enters the box and tries to flip a shot over Oblak, but the keeper spreads well to block. Oblak takes a knock on the knee for his trouble. Play stops while he gets checked over.
17 min: Arsenal have enjoyed 55 percent of possession so far. Their fans sound content: an excited buzz whenever Saka gets the ball, appreciative/supportive applause when Gyökeres – nine games without a goal for club and country – presses enthusiastically.
15 min: Timber and Saka combine crisply down the right. The latter’s shot is blocked. Rice and Eze shuttle the ball left for Lewis-Skelly, who whistles a low drive across the face of goal and wide right. The Atleti defence at sixes and sevens for a moment.
13 min: Llorente dribbles carefully down the right before finally sending in a cross that’s deflected up and into the arms of Raya.
11 min: Hancko tries to release Sorloth down the left but Saliba glides across to shepherd the ball out for a goal kick. Arsenal looking confident at both ends of the park.
9 min: Saka skins Hancko down the right and dinks a cross into the middle. It’s half cleared, but the in-rushing Gabriel can’t connect properly with a shot from the edge of the D and the visitors can clear their lines. It’s been a fun opening.
7 min: … but then Sørloth breaks into space down the middle. As he prepares to release Simeone down the inside-right channel, Lewis-Skelly cynically checks the manager’s son. That’s a foul in the professional style, and Lewis-Skelly really should go into the book – as Simeone Sr., leaping around on the touchline, suggests. But the referee’s keeping his cards in his pocket for now. Both teams have got away with one.
6 min: It’s been a really bright start by Arsenal. Atleti are struggling to get out of their final third.
Eze hits the bar
5 min: Eze takes a speculative shot from 25 yards. The ball twangs off Hancko and sails on an absurd parabola over Oblak, who is stranded. The ball pings off the crossbar instead of nestling into the top left. It drops to Rice, who should slot the rebound but balloons it over the bar.
3 min: Timber chases after a pass down the inside-right channel but can’t keep the ball in play before crossing. But Arsenal are soon coming back at Atleti, Timber rolling the ball down the same channel in the hope of releasing Saka. The Arsenal men aren’t on the same wavelength and that’s another goal kick.
2 min: Arsenal start the evening as they presumably intend to go on, stroking the ball around patiently. Koke gets fed up and clips Zubimendi on the shin, and probably should go into the book, but it’s early and you know how referees roll. A couple of statements of intent there, perhaps.
Arsenal get the ball rolling. Noise bounces around the Emirates.
The teams are out! Arsenal wear their storied red shirts with white sleeves, forcing Atlético out of their own famous mattress-inspired tops. The visitors instead sport second-choice purple with [MBM hack unfolds marketing release, adjusts pince-nez, performs brief double-take] “thunder-and-lightning-inspired side panels … embodying the bold and rebellious attitude of Atlético Madrid.” Well then. We’ll be off in a minute or two.
There’s already been one skirmish between the two clubs. Last night Atleti trained at the Emirates, as per Uefa regulations, but had to wait until they returned to their hotel for their post-exercise ablutions, on account of there being no hot water in the stadium dressing rooms. Spanish paper Marca reported that Atleti were “angry”, but while it’s delicious to imagine the hosts brazenly running plays from the John Beck book of dressing-room pranks just to push Diego Simeone’s buttons, Arsenal were in fact embarrassed and later officially apologised to their guests for the inconvenience.
Atleti striker Julián Alvarez speaks to Amazon. “We know they are a great team … it will be a very difficult game … but we will do whatever we can to win the game … it was great to hear [Pep Guardiola recently praise him] … but now I’m with another great coach [in Diego Simeone] … you are always learning with the best managers in the world … as a player as well as a person.”
Mikel Arteta – relaxed, happy, things going swimmingly – speaks to Amazon Prime. “Consistency and performance and results [make me happy] … we have a big one tonight … we need some freshness … [Diego Simeone] is a super-competitive manager … the team have been at the top in Europe for many years … we will try our best … today’s game will have a lot of micro-games within the game … we will have to deal with a lot of different situations … make sure we can deal with that … we know what we are doing but there are still things we have to improve as a team and individually … today is a beautiful game we have to play.”
♩♬♭ One-nil to the Ars-e-nal, one-nil to the Ars-e-nal … ♬ ♪ ♫ Mikel Arteta’s side have yet to concede in Europe, and have only shipped three goals so far in the Premier League. It’s bringing back memories of heady days under the legendary George Graham, and Arsenal’s current boss isn’t at all unsettled by the comparison. David Hytner reports.
Arsenal make two changes to the XI that started the 1-0 win at Fulham on Saturday evening. One at the back, one up front. Myles Lewis-Skelly and Gabriel Martinelli come in for Riccardo Calafiori and Leandro Trossard, both of whom drop to the bench.
The teams
Arsenal: Raya, Timber, Saliba, Gabriel, Lewis-Skelly, Eze, Zubimendi, Rice, Saka, Gyokeres, Martinelli.
Subs: Arrizabalaga, Setford, Mosquera, White, Hincapie, Norgaard, Nwaneri, Merino, Calafiori.
Atlético Madrid: Oblak, Le Normand, Gimenez, Hancko, Llorente, Koke, Barrios, Gonzalez, Simeone, Alvarez, Sorloth.
Subs: Musso, Ruggeri, Gallagher, Griezmann, Baena, Almada, Martin, Lenglet, Molina, Pubill, Galan, Raspadori.
Referee: Davide Massa (Italy).
Preamble
Two of the biggest clubs never to have won the European Cup meet tonight in north London. Could this be the year that a strange wrong is righted? Very possibly: Arsenal are currently joint second favourites to win this edition of the Champions League, while Atlético Madrid are usually there or thereabouts. So this qualifies as a proper heavyweight clash.
The clubs have only met once before, in the Europa League semi-finals in 2018. Antoine Griezmann and Diego Costa did for Arsenal as Atleti won the tie 2-1 on aggregate, en route to winning the trophy. So that’s in the Colchoneros’ favour. On the other hand, Arsenal have won six in a row against Spanish teams, losing just one of their last 14 home games against visitors from Spain, while Atleti have won just one of their last nine against English sides. So all of that very much favours the Gunners.
But both teams will fancy it. Arsenal are on a five-game winning run, sitting pretty atop the Premier League, while Atleti haven’t tasted defeat since losing 3-2 at Liverpool last month, an unbeaten run that’s taken in a 5-1 victory over Eintracht Frankfurt and a 5-2 thumping of crosstown rivals Real Madrid. It’s a proper heavyweight clash all right. It kicks off at 8pm UK time. It’s on!
