Diego Simeone had patrolled the touchline all in black, heart racing and arms waving, applying all the pressure he could, seeking to impart his justice, as Danny Makkelie went to the pitchside monitor to make the decision that could have decided this game. Now, as the referee crossed the line back on to the pitch, signalling that there would not be a second penalty for Arsenal after all, Atlético Madrid’s manager followed him. There on the pitch, the force with which he pushed Dávid Hancko and Johnny Cardoso and the volume of the roar from around this stadium, spoke of relief, some kind of redemption.
In the end, then, this was a tale of two penalties, not three. On a night of extreme tension and tiny margins, Viktor Gyökeres and Julián Alvarez scored theirs; Leandro Trossard didn’t get the chance to take his, if it even was going to be his. He had stood by the spot, ball under his arm, waiting, but upon second glance – or third or fourth or 13th– Makkelie decided that Hancko’s challenge on Eberechi Eze, studs on boot, was not enough. Hancko, who had given away the first penalty too, had escaped punishment, apart from Simeone’s shove.
They all had. Arsenal had been given a chance to win this, only to have it taken away again. Atlético had been left with hope. This competition has been cruel to them and it looked like it might be again. But the club whose president, Vicente Calderón, had called them El Pupas (the jinxed one, the accident waiting to happen) after the final in 1974, the name sticking ever after, had escaped their fate, fortune and a little injustice favouring them this time. At least for a few more days.
In the buildup, a question had been asked often: did football owe Atlético Madrid? It was a discourse their players and manager had avoided but everyone felt it. It is not just the three finals they have lost, it is how: a 120th-minute goal against Bayern Munich in 1974, losing the replay two days after; a 93rd-minute equaliser from Sergio Ramos taking them to an extra-time defeat against Real Madrid in 2014; and the same opponents defeating them on penalties in Milan two years later.
A decade on, Atlético were longing to go back to the final and attempt an exorcism. Arsenal’s second semi-final in a row was Atlético’s first in nine years, the biggest game this place had ever seen. Their last semi had been the final European night at the old Vicente Calderón in May 2017, supporters singing through the storm and yet another defeat against Madrid. Last year, they had been denied the chance to get there again in another shootout against the same opponents. Back at last, Real mercifully cleared from their path this time, they were determined to make something special of the first grand occasion here.
Thousands lined Luis Aragonés Avenue as the bus rolled in through the fireworks and the smoke and before kick-off they turned the Metropolitano into the Monumental, toilet roll unravelling from the stands. Then they sang: bring my heart joy, the Champions League is my obsession.
Koke, the captain, had said the nerves were like the moments before a first date with the girl you’ve fallen in love with. But hearts can be broken too, they know. Fatalism is never far away.
When Gyökeres got his first‑half penalty, especially. Atlético were furious, Simeone gesturing that the striker had thrust out his backside and gone down, looking for it. Perhaps, but Hancko’s challenge had been an invitation and this time Simeone’s pressure failed. For a while, it appeared that Atlético’s early pressure would, too. They had taken their first shot after just 40 seconds but Arsenal had taken control and now the lead.
There was a reaction though, Simeone’s side flying at Arsenal in the second half, Ademola Lookman, Antoine Griezmann and Alvarez superb as for a while they overran Arsenal, totting up 18 shots.
What a player Alvarez is. He interests Arsenal, Simeone had been told. “That’s normal because he’s a very good player,” the coach replied. He is a man for the big occasion and the big competition too: scorer of 11 Champions League goals, including strikes in every knockout round so far. His sensational free kick at the Camp Nou had brought them here and he was superb until forced to depart: generous, intelligent, imaginative.
Setting others up, taking responsibility, he led, running the game. A superb free-kick was so close half the stadium erupted, a corner almost went straight in entirely deliberately, and David Raya denied him too.
Until, that was, Alvarez scored the penalty which levelled this and which was not just a penalty but redemption, too. When they were knocked out in the shootout last year, his “goal” was chalked off when the referee judged him to have taken two touches as he slipped upon striking it. Many months later, Uefa had said that was wrong, which was no use to them by then, but now Alvarez was back on the spot. Soon Arsenal thought they were, too, but there was the screen and there was Simeone and so to London, relief all round.
