Arsenal reached the Champions League final for the first time in 20 years as Bukayo Saka sealed a 1-0 win against Atletico Madrid on Tuesday. Mikel Arteta’s side settled the semi-final second leg with Saka’s strike late in the first half at an ecstatic Emirates Stadium.
The Gunners, who drew 1-1 in the first leg in Madrid last week, held firm after Saka’s goal to go through 2-1 on aggregate. Arsenal will face Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich in the final in Budapest on May 30. Holders PSG, who beat Arsenal in the semi-finals last year, have a 5-4 lead ahead of the second leg in Munich on Wednesday.
It was a cathartic night for Arsenal, who are back in the Champions League final for the first time since losing 2-1 to Barcelona in their only previous appearance in the showpiece in 2006.
Arsenal have never won the Champions League, with their two major European trophies coming in the 1994 Cup Winners’ Cup and the 1970 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup. Their last continental final ended in a 4-1 defeat against Chelsea in the 2019 Europa League.
It is shaping up to be Arsenal’s greatest ever season as they chase a Premier League and Champions League double. Even Arsene Wenger’s ‘Invincibles’ , who won the club’s last English title in an unbeaten top-flight campaign in 2004, might have to bow to the current generation if they finish the job. Fittingly, it was Saka, the homegrown symbol of the Arteta era, who proved Arsenal’s match-winner.
Now just four games from immortality, Premier League leaders Arsenal were given a huge boost in the title race when second-placed Manchester City drew at Everton on Monday.
“Arteta recently revealed he visualised Arsenal conquering the Champions League even in the difficult early days of his reign,” the report noted. The Spaniard now is just one win away from seeing that daydream become a glorious reality.
The breakthrough came in the 44th minute. Viktor Gyokeres’ clever run unhinged the Atletico defence and his cross reached Leandro Trossard inside the area. Trossard wriggled into just enough space for a low drive that Jan Oblak weakly pushed out to Saka, who reacted quicker than his flat-footed markers to slot home from four yards.
Arteta jubilantly punched the air as all around him the Emirates erupted into a roiling red sea of celebration.