Key Takeaways
- The first leg finished 1-1 after both teams converted penalty kicks during the match.
- Video technology overturned a late penalty decision that would have given Arsenal a chance to win the game.
- Diego Simeone showed intense emotion on the pitch after the referee’s final whistle confirmed the result.
Diego Simeone could finally relax. The Atlético Madrid manager wore all black on the touchline during the match. His heart beat fast as he waved his arms. He tried to pressure the referee Danny Makkelie. The official went to check the screen near the pitch. He had to decide about a second penalty for Arsenal. This decision could have won the game for the English club.
When the referee ran back onto the pitch, he signalled no penalty. Simeone ran onto the grass immediately. He pushed Dávid Hancko and Johnny Cardoso with great force. The stadium roared loudly. This showed pure relief for the manager. It felt like redemption for the team.
The match finished as a story of two successful penalties, not three. The tension was extreme throughout the night. The margins were tiny. Viktor Gyökeres scored his penalty for Arsenal. Julián Álvarez scored his for Atlético Madrid. But Leandro Trossard never got to take his kick. He stood by the penalty spot with the ball under his arm. He waited patiently. However, the referee watched the challenge many times on the screen. Makkelie looked at the studs-on-boot contact between Hancko and Eberechi Eze again and again. Finally, he decided it was not enough for a penalty. Hancko had already given away the first penalty. Now he escaped punishment again. The only consequence was Simeone’s push.
Arsenal had received a chance to win. Then they lost it again. Atlético kept their hope alive. This competition has been cruel to them before. It looked like it might happen again. The club president Vicente Calderón once called them El Pupas. This means the jinxed ones or the accident waiting to happen. He said this after the 1974 final. The name stuck forever. This time, they escaped their fate. Fortune favoured them, along with a little injustice. This result lasts for a few more days at least.
Before the match, people asked one question often. Did football owe Atlético Madrid something? The players and manager avoided this discussion. But everyone felt it. They lost three finals. They also lost in terrible ways. In 1974, they conceded a goal in the 120th minute against Bayern Munich. They lost the replay two days later. In 2014, Sergio Ramos scored an equaliser in the 93rd minute for Real Madrid. This forced extra time and defeat. Two years later in Milan, the same opponents beat them on penalties.
Ten years after that Milan final, Atlético wanted to return. They hoped to perform an exorcism of their bad memories. This was Arsenal’s second consecutive semi-final. For Atlético, it was their first semi-final in nine years. This was the biggest game this stadium had ever seen. Their last semi-final was in May 2017. That was the final European night at the old Vicente Calderón stadium. Supporters sang through a storm. They suffered another defeat against Madrid. Last year, they lost another penalty shootout against the same team. They missed the chance to reach the semi-final. Now they returned finally. Real Madrid were not in their path this time. They wanted to make the first grand occasion at this new stadium truly special.
Thousands of fans lined Luis Aragonés Avenue. They waited as the team bus arrived. Fireworks and smoke filled the air. Before the kick-off, they turned the Metropolitano into the Monumental. Toilet paper unrolled from the stands onto the pitch. Then they sang a song. The lyrics asked for heart joy. They sang that the Champions League was their obsession.
The captain Koke described the nerves. He said they felt like the moments before a first date with someone you love. But hearts can break too. The fans know this well. Fatalism is always close.
When Gyökeres scored his first-half penalty, these fears grew. Atlético were furious. Simeone gestured that the striker pushed out his backside and dived. Perhaps he did, but Hancko’s challenge invited the contact. This time Simeone’s pressure failed. For a while, it seemed Atlético’s early pressure would fail too. They took their first shot after just 40 seconds. But Arsenal took control and took the lead.
There was a reaction though. Simeone’s team flew at Arsenal in the second half. Ademola Lookman, Antoine Griezmann and Álvarez were superb. For a while, they overran Arsenal. They made 18 shots in total.
Álvarez led the team. He set up others and took responsibility. He ran the game. He took a superb free-kick. It was so close that half the stadium erupted. A corner almost went straight in deliberately. David Raya denied him too.
Then Álvarez scored the penalty. This made the score level. It was not just a penalty. It was also redemption. Last year when they lost the shootout, his goal was disallowed. The referee judged him to have touched the ball twice as he slipped. Many months later, UEFA said this was wrong. This did not help them then. But now Álvarez returned to the spot. Soon Arsenal thought they had a penalty too. But there was the screen. There was Simeone. Now the teams go to London. Everyone feels relief.