Report and reaction
Punditry from the president of Rwanda:
My take on my beloved Club Arsenal- a very good one at the game and a very good coach like a.Wenger ,this should not have been the kind of ending of an era. The coach is leaving and club trophy-less it was long coming! I am still a committed fan going forward :). Blame the owners
— Paul Kagame (@PaulKagame) May 3, 2018
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The Atletico players are dancing on the pitch while being serenaded by their fans. Arsenal’s players have all disappeared into the dressing room. Most of them should be aware that they were found sorely wanting. The exceptions, funnily enough, were Chambers and Xhaka, and perhaps also Ramsey.
Full-time: Atletico 1-0 Arsenal (agg: 2-1)
There will be no happy ending for Wenger: he will leave the Emirates without having lifted a European trophy during his epic reign. And with the knowledge that Arsenal lost here because of the shortcomings he has failed to address. They played well between both boxes but could not find sharpness in Atletico’s nor protect their own consistently. The goal they conceded was as soft as the one they conceded in the first leg, and their finishing was worse: they got in promising positions but barely got off a shot. Arsenal were not good enough, then. Atletico deserve to be in the final, where they will face either Salzburg or Marseille, whose semi-final has gone to extra-time. On a further sad note for Arsenal - and France - Laurent Koscielny suffered a torn Achilles tendon and will be out of action for months. Here’s Daniel Taylor’s report on predictably drab end to Arsenal’s season.
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90+3 min: Atletico are finishing on the attack, Torres and Koke toying with frustrated Arsenal defenders.
90 min: There will be at least three more minutes... and if Arsenal are to score, they’re going to have to produce a much better final ball than the one Monreal just produced. Once again he got into a great position and once again he ballooned his cross beyond the team-mates pleading for a good delivery. Lacazette had been starved of decent service today. Partly by Atletico’s defensive excellence, partly by Arsenal’s inability to top off decent moves with polish final passes.
89 min: After Griezmann burrows his way down the left byline and into the box, he passes the ball across the face of goal. Chambers gets to it first ... and then tries to sashay out of the box past three Atletico players! He loses the ball, unsurprisingly, and Torres lets fly from eight yards. Ospina bats the ball away well. Arsenal are still alive, just!
87 min: The home fans are singing, twirling their scarves and waving their flags. Apparently they are convinced that Arsenal are spent.
85 min: Arsenal do reapply some pressure, pinning Atletico back in their own box and then slipping in Monreal down the left again. But Monreal’s cross is wild and flies out for a throw on the far side.
84 min: Ozil gives the ball away cheaply as Arsenal threatened to reapply some pressure.
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Atletico substitution: Torres on, Costa off. Apparently Costa is suffering from a cramp trouble. He’s applauded off the pitch by the home fans - and Arsenal’s defenders are probably cheering too.
80 min: Do Arsenal have anything left? Atletico have cranked up the tempo and appear to be taking the game away from the visitors. They’re certainly taking the ball away from their end and playing nearer to Arsenal goal. They’re not over-committing, though, just letting Griezmann and Costa tease and bully the Arsenal defence.
78 min: Freekick to Arsenal deep in their own half. Costa picks up the ball and holds on to it. Mustafi rushes over and grabs him from behind. Nothing could please Costa more. He shoves the German back and a little kerfuffle ensues. The ref rushes over and books them both.
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76 min: That’s better from Xhaka! An excellent and crucial sliding tackle on Griezmann in the Arsenal box.
75 min: Xhaka concedes a freekick just inside his own half by walking into Costa in the manner of a man trying to spill another punter’s pint in a crowded pub.
Atletico substitution: Correa on, Vitolo off
73 min: Xhaka clips a fine pass over to Monreal, who is free beyond the back post. He heads the ball across the face of goal. But, yet again, an Atletico defender is there to whack clear.
72 min: A cross by Ozil is headed out to the edge of the area. Mkhitaryan is sharp and gets to it first and then cracks off a shot from 16 yards ... which fizzes just over the bar!
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70 min: Saul booked for another attack-aborting foul in midfield. He just jumped on Ramsey’s back, not even pretending to play fair. A yellow card really isn’t adequate punishment for that carry-on: the best way to close that loophole is to award a penalty for such fouls.
Arsenal substitution: Mkhitaryan on, Wilshere off. That’s the right change by Wenger.
67 min: Atletico have decided they cannot just defend for the rest of the match although they probably can. They’ve shifted the play back into the Arsenal half. And they darn near increase their lead, as Costa does superbly to collect the ball in the box and turn before teeing up Griezmann, whose shot from eight yards takes a deflection off Chambers and loops up into the arms of Ospina.
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66 min: Salzburg have scored again. They’re 2-0 up on Marseille in the second leg, thus dead level on aggregate.
64 min: The pressure from Arsenal is mounting. There’s nervousness among the home fans - and probably also among the away fans, who know that pressure from Arsenal is often the prelude to them conceding on the break.
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63 min: Xhaka drills in a fine low shot 20 yards. Oblak dives low to his left and pushes it around the post.
62 min: Dinky play by Arsenal. They work Ozil to the byline inside the box, to the left of goal. He flashes the ball across the face but no one can reach it. Moments later Ozil gets himself into exactly the same position by winning the ball off Partey. But his low centre is cleared at the near post by Godin.
61 min: According to BT, Koscileny has indeed ruptured his tendon. That the season over for him.
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60 min: Griezmann curls the ball over the wall but a couple of yards wide.
59 min: A strong spell of pressure from Arsenal comes to an end when Xhaka gives the ball away in midfield. Griezmann charges forward. Monreal waits until he’s at the edge of the Arsenal box before deciding to take him down. Freekick in a dangerous position ...
57 min: Ramsey wins a corner on the left. Ozil delivers an outswinger. Godin heads clear.
55 min: Costa turns brilliantly past Mustafi in the box, but Chambers slides in to the rescue. Otherwise Costa would have had a free shot from nine yards.
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54 min: Chance for Ramsey, eight yards out! But the ball bobbles up in front of him as several Atletico players close in. Godin (I think) pokes it off his foot before he can pull the trigger.
53 min: A cutting midfield move by Arsenal, and suddenly Welbeck is bursting forward. Gabi takes him out, impure and simple. The ref issues the inevitable booking.
52 min: Xhaka scampers back 40 yards, keeping pace with Griezmann as Atletico break. Then he intercepts Costa’s attempted through-ball. Good play by the Swiss.
50 min: Costa meets a corner beyond the far post and sends a header back towards goal. But it’s got no power and is easily claimed by Ospina.
49 min: Arsenal’s passing is too loose in midfield. They can’t get anything going in the second half so far.
46 min: No changes in personnel and no immediate change in Bellerin’s performance: within 30 seconds of the restart he overhits a routine pass, sending the ball into touch.
The score in the other semi-final is Salzburg 0-0 Marseille, which equates to 0-2 on aggregate to the French side.
Looking at a replay of the goal, Ospina went down way too early, making the finish simple for Costa.
Half-time: Atletico 1-0 Arsenal (agg: 2-1)
The bright side is that Arsenal still only need a goal to force extra-time. The dark side is that they trail because of painfully familiar failings, a lack of ruthlessness up front and a lack of solidity at the back. They had chances to take the lead but ended up allowing Atletico to do so in sadly straight-forward fashion. You could say the loss of Koscielny to a serious injury was a factor, but you’d probably be kidding yourself. Still, they could turn this around in the second half. Or are we kidding ourselves about that, too?
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GOAL! Atletico 1-0 Arsenal (agg: 2-1) (Costa 45+2)
You’ve read this story before. Arsenal coughed up possession easily in midfield and their defence was found embarrassingly exposed. Griezmann played a low ball from mid-way inside the Arsenal half to Costa, who had run clear of a dozing Bellerin. Costa carried on into the box and lifted the ball over Ospina and into the net from 12 yards.
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45+1 min: Koke clips in a corner. Welbeck heads it away at the near post - he’s done that several times so far, and not much else. Gabi essays a blast from long-range but it crashes into a forest of bodies.
44 min: Chambers almost gets caught by Griezmann at the edge of his own box but recovers in time to skip away from the Frenchman. Then he sends the ball froward and no doubt exhales in relief.
43 min: Monreal raids down the left. He makes good ground before being crowded out by three defenders, with nary a team-mates near him.
40 min: Gabi clatters into Lacazette from behind and gets a lecture from the ref. Wilshere protests that the defender should have been booked. And moments later he gets a yellow for jumping into Gabi in a not-very-convincing attempt to win an aerial ball. Not the most sinister foul but his previous lip might have helped sway the ref.
38 min: Another setpiece leads to problems for Arsenal. Griezman ran away from Ramsey and crept behind Wilshere before collecting a freekick and shooting one the turn from a difficult angle to the right, about 10 yards out. It whizzed across goal and wide at the far post. That line about Arsenal being in the ascendancy went out of date real quick.
37 min: Atletico lob a long freekick into the Arsenal box. With Rafael Nadal watchign from the stands, t he home side win a bout of head tennis until Mustafi nuts the ball away at the edge of the six-yard box. It falls to Koke just outside the area. He bangs a volley a decent couple of yards wide.
34 min: Atletico are digging in. They’ve recognised the rising threat from Arsenal and are not too proud to retreat deep into defence at home. It’s nowhere near a siege but Arsenal are definitely in the ascendancy.
31 min: Ramsey unlocks the Atletico defence again ... and again a shoddy first touch reprieves the hosts and Arsenal do not even get off a shot! This time Monreal let the ball run under his foot. Had he taken it under control he would have had a clear shot on his left foot from 15 yards,
29 min: A lack of communication between Ospina and Xhaka leads to the concession of a needless corner. Griezmann pulls it out to Partey, some 10 yards outside the box. The Ghanaian catches it flush to send a ferocious volley goalward. Ospina bats it away but, as it turns out, it wouldn’t have counted because the ref had blown for a foul in the area.
27 min: Slick interplay by Arsenal at the edge of the Atletico box. Then Ramsey slips a nice pass through to Lacazette, who’s suddenly through on goal, 16 yards out! His first touch lacks deftness and takes him a little wide. Oblak comes out to meet him but doesn’t commit, so Lacazette turns around near the byline and offloads to Ozil, who flashes a low ball across the face of goal. But Godin clears. Lacazette’s failure to get off a shot when in a great position was costly there.
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25 min: Chambers does well to dispossess Costa in the box and boot clear after Atletico are guilty of overplaying. “As that quite startlingly bad cross/shot/steaming pile of smelly stuff from Bellerin just demonstrated, Arsenal are the masters of what you call ‘latent threats’ whilst ‘real threats’ remain completely beyond them,” fumes David hindle. “Arsenalitis is already well in evidence. Oh dear.” Come, come, David, Atletico haven’t been any sharper so far and Arsenal may only need to to get it right once today.
22 min: Griezmann has blood trickling from his neck as if he’s been bitten by a vampire. The ref doesn’t appear to have noticed and the player does not seem inclined to get it bandaged up.
21 min: Griezmann picks the ball up in the hole twixt Atletico’s midfield and attack. He shimmies closer to the Arsenal box and tries to slip a pass through to Costa. But Costa had peeled off in a different direction and the ball runs straight to Chambers, who wellies gratefully clear.
19 min: A loose pass in midfield by Gabi to Ozil, who immediately gets Arsenal going forward on the counter. They work it from the left back over to the right-hand side of the box, where Bellerin arrives at speed and tries to hang up a cross to the back post. But he gets it completely wrong and lets Atletico off the hook.
17 min: This is cagey, nowhere near as open as the two Champions League semi-finals. But there are latent threats from both sides and hints of a breatkthrough. Arsenal are making good ground down the flanks, in particular.
15 min: Ramsey spots a good run down the left by Monreal and rewards him with a fine pass. Monreal lashes in a low cross towards the penalty spot. Welbeck just fails to meet it. But Arsenal can take encouragement from the fact that that’s the second time they’ve got in behind Atletico’s widely acclaimed defence.
13 min: Koke curls in a freekick from the right. Welbeck leaps well to head it away.
11 min: Koscielny departs on a stretcher to sympathetic applause from both sets of fans. Everyone can see his distress. Chambers enters - he faces a daunting challenge but, on the other hand, what a chance this is to endear himself to Arsenal fans.
7 min: Here’s a sad development: Koscielny collapsed off the ball and is writhing on the ground in obvious pain, clutching his ankle. He appears to have done serious damage, possibly to his Achilles tendon. He’s going to be replaced. Let’s hope his season is not over and that he’ll be back in time for the World Cup, at least. Chambers will replace him here.
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6 min: A long ball forward. Costa heads it on and then chases after it, leaving Koscileny trailing. He then effortlessly shunts Monreal aside and bears down on goal from the right-hand side of the box. Ospina comes out to narrow the angle ... and Costa blazes high and wide!
5 min: Fine move by Arsenal down the right, culminating in a wicked curling ball across the face of goal by Lacazette. Wilshere lunged to try to poke it in but couldn’t quite reach it.
4 min: Atletico are trying to take charge and deprive Arsenal of the ball. But Arsenal aren’t about to let that happen willingly and there’s been a couple of feisty and fair tackles in midfield, first by Welbeck and then by Wilshere. Good.
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2 min: Corner to Atletico. Koke swings it in. It’s headed away at the near post.
1 min: We have kickoff! Arsenal do the honours and immediately begin popping the ball around with confidence. Until Koscielny is rushed into a pass from the back and sends it out of play.
Simeone, clad all in black as always, is watching from the stands because of his dismissal for bleating last week.
The players are on the pitch. The Arsenal lads look relaxed, the Atletico ones steely-eyed.
The players haven’t yet exited the tunnel but they can surely hear the noise in the stadium, where there’s a magnificent sing-song in progress. There’s about 3,700 Arsenal fans hollering to try to make their voices heard above the 58,000 hosts.
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“I’m trying to guess what phrase you’ve already got copied and ready to paste to save time,” announces Zach Neeley. “Maybe ‘RED CARD’? Or ‘Oh Arsenal!’ I’m going to go with ‘[player] should have done better with that’.” You should have done better with that, Zach. I should probably prepare something about Danny Welbeck falling over as he shoots. I like him a lot but good shot or bad, he always seems to end up on his hole.
More from Wenger, this time via a pre-recorded interview with BT. Firstly, he is asked whether he has had many phone offers of a new job elsewhere. “Yes, but at the moment I divert everything. It is absolutely vital for me to focus completely on Arsenal until the last minute.” As for today’s match, he says: “I came out of the first game with huge frustration and also with belief that we created so many chances that we have a good opportunity to go away and do the same again. We c an score against any team in the world if we play well. “
“Who will be the first to be sent off?” wonders Peter Littley. “Costa or Xhaka?” Not Wilshere? Apparently Simeone practiced playing 10v11 in his final training session before the first leg because he sensed what was going to happen at the Emirates; doubt he did the same yesterday.
This is the first time that Diego Costa has faced Arsenal since last season’s FA Cup final. he scored that day but was otherwise pretty well contained by Per Mertesacker: if the German could do it at the age of 53, then Mustafi and Koscileny have no excuse today, other than the fact that they’ve also to keep tabs on Griezmann of course.
“As an American, I’m curious to know do more English people want Arsenal to win here than wanted Liverpool to win yesterday?” asks Chuck Taylor. Are you asking which club has more supporters or which club is less disliked? I’ll tell you one thing: Huddersfield fans will be rooting for Arsenal here, because if Wenger’s team reach the final, there’s a good chance they’ll field a weakened side on the last day of the season, when Huddersfield may need to beat them to avoid relegation. After which Arsenal could do worse than try to persuad David Wagner to do a Herbert Chapman.
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Wenger sets the mood
Speaking to BT, Arsenal’s leader says: “I’m very positive, I believe in the team and I have a certainty that we will give everything we have in the tank tonight. We will take responsibility to build the game. We have to take the game to them and we know they will try to hit us on the break. But the only way to score is to play with the handbrake off.
Regarding the selection of Welbeck over Mkhitaryan he says: “We need strikers tonight. But everybody will have a part to play.”
Teams
Mkhitaryan apparently isn’t fit enough to start anywhere other than on the bench so Wenger deploys the same team that dominated most of the first leg, albeit thanks to an early red card. Diego Simeone, meanwhile, has no intention of relying on the away goal to go through: there’s something about these Arsenal defence that makes him think they’re fragile – and Diego Costa is just the man to exploit that alongside Griezmann.
Atletico: Oblak; Partey, Gimenez, Godin, Lucas; Vitolo, Saul, Gabi, Koke; Costa, Griezmann
Subs: Werner, Filipe Luis, Savic, Olabe, Torres, Correa, Gameiro
Arsenal: Ospina; Bellerin, Mustafi, Koscielny, Monreal; Ramsey, Xhaka, Wilshere; Welbeck, Ozil; Lacazette
Subs: Cech, Iwobi, Chambers, Maitland-Niles, Kolasinac, Nketiah, Mkhitaryan
Referee: G Rocchi (Italy)
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Preamble
Hello. We are gathered here today to see whether Arsene Wenger’s Arsenal can muster at least one last heroic exploit. The smart money says no but the dreamers have hope. Sure, Arsenal missed a glorious opportunity last week when their defence disintegrated in all too familiar fashion and they conceded a late equaliser to Atletico’s 10 men but atoning for that today and turning the tie around is not beyond them, in theory. And what a happy ending that would set up for Wenger, who would have a chance to finally lift a European trophy, in his native France to boot, and possibly against Marseille, the club whose skulduggery nearly three decades ago perhaps cost him a title and contributed to him leaving his homeland (and dear Boro Primorac retreating into the shadows). All together now:♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ “It’s the wheel of fortune / It’s the leap of faith / it’s the band of hope … in the circle, the circle of life!” ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
And now for some hard facts: to win this tie without a penalty shootout Arsenal will have to score against a defence and goalkeeper that hardly seem like flesh and blood, more like concrete and barbed wire. Atletico are unbeaten in their last 17 home matches in La Liga and have not even conceded in the last 11 of those. Then again, they have not hosted many opponents who have an offensive armoury on a par with Arsenal’s; and they did lose 2-1 at home to Chelsea in September and then even conceded to Qarabag, who made off with a 1-1 draw. And Sevilla won 2-1 at the Estadio Metropolitano in January to knock Atletico out of the Spanish Cup. So rumours of Atletico’s home invincibility may have been exaggerated. Arsenal could definitely score today. Whether their flaky defence can keep out Atletico is another matter entirely.
Arsenal’s record in European semi-finals will have as much bearing on this match as it does on the behaviour of Sagittarius A, the supermassive black hole at the heart of the Milky Way, 26,000 light years from earth. But let’s mention it any way: Arsenal have never lost a European semi-final to continental opposition: they have beaten Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, Sampdoria, Lens and Villarreal in semi-finals before being battered by Manchester United in the last four of the 2009 Champions League. Atletico, meanwhile, won this tournament in 2010 and 2012 and have been to two of the last three Champions League finals. They have a nous and resolve that Arsenal seldom show, as well as some very fine players: they are heavy favourites for a reason. But Wenger’s happy ending is still possible. ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ “It’s the wheel of fortune / It’s the leap of faith / it’s the band of hope … in the circle, the circle of life!” ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬ ♩ ♪ ♫ ♬
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