How much can hope do? How far can desire go? Up to a Champions League final? To win it? Simeone has never wanted to mention Budapest. You know, one game at a time. But Atletico Madrid arrived in London on more than just a mission, it was a crusade. A revenge. A longing. There were so many things in one that with just a sigh it could vanish, as it happens with dreams. The rain called for epic, but ended up erasing Atletico's hope, and a computer did the rest.
Arsenal is a prosaic team, whose disappointments and even joys seem more like a bureaucratic procedure than an emotion. That's how Arteta has built it, like a perfect, almost inhuman machine, an artificial intelligence. Even the initial tifo, "By land and sea," as a reference to the battles between England and Spain, seemed contrived. The players have adhered to the Basque's rigid tactics and it has served them well. They have the Premier League within reach after City's recent draw and the Champions League, one step away after Saka scored the winning goal. Without heart, without courage. Pure bureaucracy.
Life is starting the duel with 25% possession at the Emirates and having the first chances on the boots of Julián and Giuliano. Also, to set up with a 5-4-1 in defensive phase and in a blink of an eye switch to a 4-3-3 causing mistakes from Raya, who with the ball at his feet was a ticking time bomb.
Then the first British corner falls in the 15th minute and the crowd celebrates it as if it were the first goal. But Rice's delivery, although finding Saka unmarked, was not effective. The strategy that led to a record of corner goals in the Premier League, with 17, had worked, but had not been converted. The danger was created by the British winger in the next play after a good pass from White. Saka put it in the penalty spot but the ball found no gunner.
The game was seeking a mistake. It was a continuous line of ones and zeros in which both sides were waiting for a gap in the sequence. One through a corner kick, the other behind the British full-backs. But while Giuliano seemed to have returned to his early-season form, Lookman couldn't quite connect to the game. The Nigerian's contribution in his hometown was needed. If you were looking for a high-scoring game, it was in the other fixture.
The passion was more on the Atletico bench, with Simeone on the edge, than on the field, where there was more fear than excitement. Despite the fear generated by the return of the best Saka, who had scored over the weekend against Fulham, the greater threat came from a Gyokeres who seems to have regained his Sporting form. The Swede, with his latest brace in the Premier League, is the second Gunner player with over 20 goals in his debut season (21).
Both players found the glitch in the Matrix. A through ball to the Swede ended with a cross that Trossard headed, prompting a great save from Oblak. The Atletico defense fell asleep on the rebound and Saka appeared to beat the Slovenian. A goal that arrived in the 44th minute to the dismay of the Atletico spirit.
Atletico's obligation was to increase the pace of the game. They had the capacity for it, and the competitive and physical demands of Arsenal would likely prevent them from keeping up with a team that has been playing with the reserves in the league for a month. For now, the lines moved forward several meters and the game approached Raya's goal more. The first scare came from Giuliano with a long ball from Pubill that he won initially against Gabriel and the Spanish goalkeeper, but the Brazilian center-back recovered lost ground and diverted it for a corner without opposition.
The match could have turned if Siebert, the referee whom Atletico has never won with, had seen the penalty on Griezmann and not called a non-existent foul on Gabriel by Pubill. However, it was Gyokeres who shortly after missed a chance for Atletico after failing to connect with a cross from Hincapié. Arsenal's counterattacks were hurting an already committed Atletico side.
The epic was missing. A moment of madness from Molina or an intervention from Baena, with Julián out injured. And it came, but Sorloth wasted the opportunity created by the Andalusian. Then Arteta activated the containment program on the computer, and with the wind in their favor, the AI gradually extinguished the Atletico spirit. The Deep Blue has entered football and will be in Budapest. The red and white side weeps, suffers, and feels, bidding farewell to the season in London.