Arsenal Aim for Champions League Final as Arteta Calls for Beasts
Mikel Arteta stood in front of the cameras and stripped it all back to one word. Beasts.
On Tuesday night at the Emirates, he expects his Arsenal players to shed any trace of stage fright and charge at history with teeth bared, as they try to reach a Champions League final for the first time since 2006.
Arsenal scent a return to the big stage
The tie is delicately balanced at 1-1 after the first leg in Madrid, but Arsenal walk into their home stadium with the numbers – and the mood – behind them. Five wins from six Champions League games at the Emirates this season. Only three goals conceded. A sense that this ground, so often haunted by European missteps, is starting to feel like a fortress again.
There is another memory in the air as well. During the group stage, Viktor Gyökeres tore through Atlético Madrid in a 4-0 demolition in north London. That result lingers in the background like a warning siren and a promise all at once: this Arsenal can hurt Diego Simeone’s side badly. They know it. Atlético know it too.
But nobody at Arsenal is naive enough to think this is the same contest. The Spanish club knocked out Barcelona in the quarter-finals and have built a decade-long reputation on surviving exactly this kind of storm. They live for nights when the odds lean against them and the game turns into a test of nerve.
A stadium ready to explode
If Atlético want a siege, they will walk straight into one.
Supporters have been planning for this evening for weeks. A special reception is set for the team bus, a wall of noise and colour to greet the players long before they step onto the pitch. Inside, the East Stand will unveil what organisers call the biggest tifo in the club’s history, a choreographed roar before a ball has even been kicked.
Arteta can feel it building.
“We always talked about in this moment that we need players with a great emotional state, because I think that determines the rest,” he said. “We are feeling very good for tomorrow. I feel the energy in and amongst the team, our supporters. So this is the moment that we want to live together.”
He knows how long the wait has been. Twenty years since Arsenal last stood this close to a Champions League final, when Arsène Wenger’s side went all the way to Paris before falling to Barcelona. Two decades of frustration, false starts and early exits have followed. Arteta is determined that this time, the club does not blink.
“We have a lot of work as a club, as a team, after 20 years to be in this position again,” he said. “We are so hungry to get the game that we want tomorrow and go through to that final.”
Then came the line that summed up his message: “Go and grab it. When you are in front of such an opportunity, it means that you are ready to deliver, and the team is going to go for the first minute to go and get that.”
Ødegaard back, Havertz boosts options
On the pitch, the news is positive. Captain Martin Ødegaard is set to return after missing the weekend win over Fulham, restoring the creative heartbeat of Arsenal’s midfield for the biggest night of their season. Kai Havertz is also expected to be involved, another important attacking option in a game that could hinge on one moment of composure in the box.
Arteta batted away any talk of emulating Wenger by reaching the final and simultaneously fighting for the Premier League title. He has no interest in grand comparisons, not yet.
“The only thing I have is to finish preparing tomorrow, as best as possible, the game, the team,” he said, “and that we go out there like beasts, enjoy the moment and go for it.”
The message is simple: forget the narrative, win the duel in front of you.
Simeone’s edge, jokes and all
On the other side stands Simeone, still the snarling conductor of Atlético’s European campaigns, still thriving on tension. His team were routed 4-0 at the Emirates in October, a night that sparked whispers of superstition when reports emerged that Atlético had changed hotels for this trip to London.
He brushed that aside with a grin.
“The hotel was cheaper, that was why we changed,” he said. This time they are staying at the Courthouse Hotel in Shoreditch, rather than the Marriott in Regent’s Park. The implication is clear: he is not chasing omens, only control.
“I think we are doing better than in October,” Simeone added. “We are confident in terms of what we want with the game, but it is not just down to us. We are convinced about what we need to do. Whatever plan is chosen, we will stick with it until the end.”
That last line is pure Simeone. He will pick a plan, drill it into his players, and refuse to deviate even if the night turns wild.
Old scars, new referee
The first leg simmered with controversy, both managers criticising the officials after a spiky contest in Madrid. This time, the spotlight falls on German referee Daniel Siebert, whose appointment drew a single, clipped response from Simeone when questioned: “No.”
He did not elaborate. He did not need to. Atlético have not won any of the three matches Siebert has taken charge of, all against English clubs, and that record hangs over this tie like another subplot.
Yet for all the noise around referees, hotels and history, the reality is simple. Arsenal stand one game away from a final they have not touched since the days of Henry and Vieira. Atlético are chasing another chapter in a European story built on defiance.
Arteta has asked his players to become beasts for one night. The Emirates is ready to see who bites first.
