Football spent most of Wednesday catching its breath. After the light-show in the Parc des Princes between Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich on Tuesday night, after the fantasy football laid on by Khvicha Kvaratskhelia, Ousmane Dembele, Michael Olise, Harry Kane, Desire Doue and Luis Diaz, the baton was passed.
‘Follow that,’ Atletico Madrid and Arsenal were told. Some unkind souls said it would be like the aspirin you have to take after the party the night before but this Champions League semi-final first leg was still tumult of a different kind. It was feral and intense and loud and unremitting and unforgiving and full of controversy. It stirred the senses, just in a different way.
After the Lord Mayor’s Show? Well, maybe. It might be that nothing matches PSG-Bayern for the next 20 years. But Arsenal and their fans will not care. Not one jot. They have been damned with faint praise and disrespect all the way to the top of the Premier League table and the semi-finals of this competition. They keep on keeping on.
And now they have one foot in the Champions League final. They stood up when they had to here in this cauldron of a giant bowl on the outskirts of the Spanish capital. They weathered a spell of intense pressure from Diego Simeone’s side in the second half and limited the damage to a single goal, an equaliser to Viktor Gyokeres’ first half penalty.
And they were denied what looked like a certain penalty late in the game that would have given them a winner when Eberechi Eze was brought down. They deserved their 1-1 draw and it will give them the advantage when they host Atleti at the Emirates in the second leg next Tuesday for a place in the final in Budapest at the end of May.
The match started with a surprise of sorts. A deluge had been forecast to drench Madrid for most of the day. The downpour was expected to be so fierce that an ‘extreme weather’ warning was issued. Mikel Arteta was even asked how his side would cope with the storm.
Julian Alvarez’s penalty ensured Atletico Madrid will go into the second leg at Arsenal level
Alvarez converted the spot kick after a controversial handball decision against Ben White
But as kick-off approached, a glance to the skies showed only glorious blue and the occasional fluffy white cloud that looked as if it meant no harm to anyone, least of all Arsenal. Some among the visiting contingent asked what Spanish was for ‘Michael Fish’.
There was some disappointment for the travelling fans when it was announced that Bukayo Saka had not made the starting line-up and was continuing his recovery from the bench. Kai Havertz was out. Viktor Gyokeres, who has been struggling to make an impact, led the line in his place.
There was no downpour but a blizzard of toilet rolls rained down from the stands before the start. The atmosphere was deafening. It was the kind of noise that Arteta pleads for before games at The Emirates. It seemed to motivate Arsenal skipper Martin Odegaard, too. He hurtled into the opposition half after kick-off and charged down a home clearance.
Atletico dominated the early stages but Arsenal made the first chance. Noni Madueke jinked down the right and crossed deep to the back post. Piero Hincapie rushed in to try to head it home but it was just too high for him and when it fell to Gabriel Martinelli, he could only volley it into the side-netting.
When Arsenal had the ball, they were met with a cacophony of whistles and jeers but after a quarter of an hour, they created another fine opportunity. Gyokeres sprinted the length of the Atletico half and held off Marcos Llorente before pulling the ball back for Odegaard. Odegaard should have shot first time but he delayed and allowed a defender to block it.
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Arsenal were already struggling to cope with Julian Alvarez, who looked sharp and hungry after his return from injury. Alvarez arrowed a shot towards the bottom corner from the edge of the area and it took a fine save from David Raya, diving low to his left, to keep it out.
Arsenal had grown into the game, though, and were beginning to exert a measure of control. The crowd developed whistling fatigue. Madueke cut in from the right and drove a fizzing shot just wide of Jan Oblak’s right hand post. On the touchline, Arteta turned away in frustration.
Then, three minutes before the interval, Arsenal got the breakthrough. Martin Zubimendi and Odegaard played a one-two, Zubimendi nudged the ball on for Gyokeres and he was shoved over in the box by David Hancko. The referee pointed to the spot and Gyokeres slammed the penalty past Oblak.
Arsenal got a huge scare four minutes after the break when Alvarez curled a free kick over the visitors’ wall. He hit it with power and pace and whip and when it bulged the net, the Atleti fans thought he had scored. The crowd roared but the ball had gone just the wrong side of the post.
A few minutes later, Atleti came close again. Ademola Lookman burst through on goal and when his shot was saved by Raya, it rebounded to Antoine Griezmann. Griezmann danced past a challenge and shot for goal. He thought he had scored but somehow Gabriel hurled himself in the way and deflected the ball over the bar.
Arsenal were denied a second penalty of the night after a controversial VAR intervention
Vitkor Gyokeres put the Gunners in front just before half-time in a tense semi-final, first leg
Mikel Arteta’s men were good value for their draw and will take an advantage into the second leg
It was only a short reprieve for Arsenal. A minute later, the visitors were defending a corner when the ball bounced up and hit Ben White’s hand. The referee went to the monitor to check the replay and awarded the penalty. Alvarez hit it so hard and true that Raya did not move. It almost looked as if the ferocity and the precision of the kick startled him.
It was the Argentine striker’s 25th goal in his 41st Champions League appearance, a mark that even surpassed the feat of Lionel Messi, who took 42 matches to reach his quarter-century.
It felt like a critical juncture for Arsenal. The stadium was alive with noise and yearning. Atleti pressed for a second goal. Griezmann hit the bar with an improvised shot that turned into a chip. Then he fired the rebound just wide on the volley. Then Raya clawed a corner out from under the bar. Arsenal desperately tried to weather the storm.
Raya came to their rescue again when Lookman got to a low ball in front of Ben White and stepped past him. He was 12 yards out with only the goalkeeper to beat but he hit his shot too close to Raya and made a fine stop to smother it.
Slowly, Arsenal managed to get a foothold in the game again. Alvarez was substituted. The mood in the stadium dipped slightly and when it did, Arsenal won a penalty. Or they thought they had. Eberechi Eze got to the ball before Hancko and Hancko stamped on his foot. It looked like an obvious penalty but, inexplicably, the referee went to his monitor and changed his decision.
