Arsenal Atletico Madrid Champions League: Arteta demands next step after 1-1 draw
Arsenal Atletico Madrid Champions League now turns to the decisive second leg after a 1-1 draw in Madrid, with Mikel Arteta urging his team to make the next step. Arsenal are one match from their first final in 20 years, and they arrive with a 13-match unbeaten run in Europe this season.
Arteta and Ødegaard
Arteta did not hide the scale of the moment. “You can never promise to win major trophies. You can promise to work every single day with the vision and implementing, and being determined with the ideas and the decisions that you take to bring this club to be one of the best in Europe. Here we are, now we have to make the next step.”
He has spoken before about the target at the top of the club, saying: “I’ve done it many years ago, the thing that I had in mind for this club.” That vision now sits over a tie Arsenal must settle at home after last week’s 1-1 result.
Arsenal's European run
The 13-match unbeaten streak matches Arsène Wenger’s longest run without defeat in the Champions League. Arsenal have reached the semi-final only four times in their history, and this is their second successive run to that stage.
The numbers at home are strong under Arteta. Arsenal have won 14 of their 18 Champions League matches at home, with Paris Saint-Germain’s win at the Emirates their only home defeat in those 18 matches. The same campaign has already shown Arsenal what they can do against Atlético Madrid, with a 4-0 win in October during the league phase.
Atlético Madrid at the Emirates
Atlético carry their own recent European reference points into London. They beat Barcelona in the first leg of their quarter-final at the Camp Nou, and Diego Simeone’s side have already shown they can handle a hostile away setting.
There is also familiarity around one of their biggest names. Antoine Griezmann scored at the Emirates in the Europa League semi-finals in 2018, and Atlético’s last Champions League final came 10 years ago, when they lost on penalties to Real Madrid after Griezmann missed a penalty. Arsenal’s own last close brush with the trophy came in 2006, when Sol Campbell gave them an early lead before they lost the final to Barcelona.
Saturday’s return for Bukayo Saka against Fulham adds another layer to Arsenal’s setup, but the tie still comes back to one task: make the next step and finish the semi-final at home.
