Atletico Madrid 1-1 Arsenal: A solid away leg tinged with real frustration

Match report – Player ratings – Arteta reaction – Video

So, it’s honours even after a 1-1 draw in the first leg of our Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid last night.

Mikel Arteta’s team selection saw him go with the front three that doesn’t always inspire confidence, but perhaps the most interesting part of our set-up was the way he configured his midfield. Declan Rice played deeper than usual, taking some of the defensive responsibility away from Martin Zubimendi, and with Martin Odegaard doing what he does well, it gave us some real control in the first half.

Rice in particular was outstanding, always available to receive it and by full-time no player on either side had made more passes, completing 93% of them. He was also excellent defensively, snuffing out danger from the home side more than once. Having started well in the opening few minutes, the home fans grew frustrated after we wrestled possession back. There was a chance for Julian Alvarez which drew a good save from David Raya, and at the other end good work from Viktor Gyokeres down the left saw him fashion an opportunity for Odegaard on his right foot which was well defended in their box.

Noni Madueke curled an effort not far wide after a good drive inside, and with Arsenal on top as we headed towards the break, we were given the chance to go ahead with a penalty. Odegaard played the ball on to Gyokeres, he made sure there was contact from behind with the defender the wrong side of him and the ball, and the ref pointed to the spot. The Swedish striker took the ball, hit it as hard as we know he can, and it flew between the arms of Oblak who went the right way but the sheer pace of the ball beat him.

I thought it was a really good half from Arsenal, but you can’t expect to play a team like this and not get tested. A half-time change might have helped Atletico, and they certainly had the better of it after the break. Alvarez hit the side-netting with a free kick from distance, Lookman had a shot saved by Raya which then fell for Griezmann whose goal-bound effort was blocked by Gabriel – the Frenchman booted the post in frustration.

From the resulting corner though, Atleti had a penalty of their own. Llorente’s shot was going miles wide, but it seemed to clip Ben White’s shin then hit his arm, but as we know the threshold for a handball in Europe is far lower than in the Premier League. Those always get given by continental officials, and after being told to go look at the VAR screen, the ref pointed to the spot again. If Gyok’s penalty was emphatic, so too was Alvarez’s, with Raya barely moving as the ball thundered into the net for 1-1.

After that we had a period where, perhaps, we got a bit lucky. Griezmann had a shot which looped up onto the bar with Raya beaten, and it felt like we were under pressure from a series of corners which required the Arsenal keeper to be at his proactive best. Having already brought on Eberechi Eze for Odegaard, Mikel Arteta turned to his bench to replace his entire front three as Bukayo Saka, Leandro Trossard and Gabriel Jesus were added to the mix.

I did worry about those changes a bit as triple subs haven’t always been effective, and there was another big chance for Atletico when Lookman had a clear sight of goal but his effort was tame and straight at Raya. At that stage of the game, possession in the second half was 72% for them, just 28% for us. So while the impact of those three subs, whose ability on the ball is generally better than the players who came off, wasn’t instant, it grew as we headed to the final stages. Between that Lookman chance and the final whistle, possession flipped back our way with 38% for them and 62% for us.

Away from home, against opposition like this, I thought that was a really interesting aspect of how the final stages of this first leg played out. Maybe we rode our luck a little bit beforehand, but ultimately we exerted control and played a lot of the game in their half of the pitch. And if we were a touch fortunate, so too were Atleti when Saka found Eze in the box, there was clear contact on him from David Hancko, and once again the ref pointed to the spot.

Nothing is ever cut and dried these days though. VAR got involved, eventually told the ref to go look, and with the manic Diego Simeone in close quarters (which really doesn’t seem like the right thing to be allowed happen even if you can understand why any manager might want to try and and exert some influence for the benefit of his team), the ref overturned his own decision after taking time to watch it over and over and over again.

For me, it’s a penalty. If he doesn’t give it in the first place, it’s one you could more easily live with, but there’s no way that kind of decision should be overturned once it has been awarded. As you might expect, Mikel Arteta was not at all happy afterwards, saying:

What I am incredibly fuming with, is how the penalty on Ebs gets overturned in the manner that it happened, when it’s not a clear and obvious error. At this level, I’m sorry, but this cannot happen. The referee has to watch it 13 times! It’s impossible, and yeah, we are all fuming about it.

I’m extremely disappointed and annoyed because it was against the rules, and I don’t understand it. It changes the course of the tie. So, I’m very, very upset.

I think we can all understand that frustration, especially as it really felt like a ‘home team’ decision. If that incident had happened up the other end, I just don’t see any way in which it gets overturned, and I do wish that referees would more often have the strength of their own conviction when it comes to decisions like this. It was a foul in the box, it’s a penalty.  There isn’t an official in the land who second guesses himself if that takes place in midfield, and while I know the threshold to award a spot kick probably should be higher, it’s an overreach in terms of interference by VAR to chalk that one off.

Overall though, I think a draw was probably just about fair given what happened in both boxes. I also thought that despite not being a 5-4 ‘thriller’, this was still a really compelling game of football. I enjoyed our slight tactical tweaks which had a positive impact and which certainly should provide some encouragement next week; I thought the manager used the bench well and to good effect, which is important given how demanding our schedule is versus theirs; and in a first leg away from home, 1-1 is always a decent result. It’s probably one many people would have taken if offered it before kick-off.

Arteta continued:

I’m very proud, I said that to the boys. We’ve handled any kind of context for nine and a half months, which is remarkable. I really value what they’ve done because I’ve seen some of the best teams in the world fall apart here. We didn’t get the result that we wanted. The way we planned the game, we wanted to win it, but at least it’s in our hands, in front of our people, to be in that final. And in a week’s time, we’re going to have the opportunity to do so.

And it does set up a huge occasion next week, one we should all be relishing. Atletico Madrid are an excellent side, but we should have no fear because we demonstrated last night we can go toe to toe with them. A little more open play threat from Arsenal would be nice, but that’s something we can look to produce with the home support at our back and hopefully an amazing atmosphere at our place.

Now, we have to refocus on the Premier League while they can play their kids and has-beens in a weekend fixture against Valencia which means little or nothing to their La Liga campaign. But that’s our challenge, and with so much to play for, one we just have to go for in the best way we can. More on that Fulham game in the days to come.

Right, I’ll leave it there. We’ll have a post-game Arsecast for you a bit later on this morning so stand-by for that.

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Just finally for today, we put tickets on sale yesterday for our live event at Union Chapel, and they sold out very quickly to Patreon members only. There is a second batch going on sale this afternoon at 3pm (Dublin time). This is the link you need – https://comm.tix.to/ArsecastAVPodLive – it will only be active from that time, so good luck to everyone!

For now, have a good one.

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