Arsenal's Leaders Odegaard and Havertz Return for Champions League Semi-Final
At Emirates Stadium on the eve of a season-defining night, Mikel Arteta finally delivered the line Arsenal supporters had been waiting for.
“They are available, they are in the squad, both of them.”
Martin Odegaard and Kai Havertz, absent from last week’s first leg in Spain, are back. For a team standing one step from a first Champions League final since 2006, their return is more than an injury update. It is a jolt of belief.
Arsenal’s leaders return for the biggest stage
The 1-1 draw in Spain left this semi-final on a knife edge. It also left Arsenal without two of Arteta’s most trusted lieutenants in the final third. Now, on home soil, he has his creators back.
“Great, because we need options, we need the capacity to play different games tomorrow, whether it's from the start or after,” Arteta said. “So it's really, really good news for us to have them both back.”
That word – options – has followed Arteta throughout this season. His best Arsenal sides have thrived when he can tweak the picture mid-game, change the angles, alter the tempo. Odegaard gives him control and incision. Havertz offers chaos, movement, and a presence between the lines and in the box. Having both in the squad changes the feel of the tie.
Around London Colney, that shift is tangible. The stakes are obvious, but so is the sense of readiness.
Twenty years of waiting
Arsenal have spent two decades trying to find their way back to this level. This is not just another knockout tie; it is the culmination of a long rebuild and a longer wait.
“I can't wait. I mean, I feel the energy in and amongst the team, our supporters, so these are the moments that we want to live together,” Arteta said. “We had a lot of work as a club, as a team, after 20 years to be in this position again, and we are so hungry to get a game that we want tomorrow and go through to the final.”
The hunger is not just emotional. It is physical. After 58 matches across all competitions, this is usually the point in the season when legs go heavy and minds dull. Arteta insists the opposite is happening.
With Bukayo Saka described as in “top condition”, the manager believes his squad is peaking at exactly the right time. The domestic win over Fulham has added another layer of confidence. The rhythm is there. So is the edge.
Tactical variety at left-back
Arteta’s language keeps circling back to profiles, combinations, connections. Nowhere is that more obvious than at left-back, where Riccardo Calafiori and Piero Hincapie offer contrasting tools for the same job.
“[Calafiori and Hincapie are] very different,” Arteta explained. “We've rarely had both of them available at the same time for long periods so we're more restricted in terms of the opponent and the connection that we're going to generate throughout the game or with the teammates to choose from there. Now they are both available and that's a great option because they are, as you said, so different.”
Against Diego Simeone’s Atletico, those choices matter. One profile to break a low block. Another to handle transitions, duels, and the inevitable direct balls into the channels. For once, Arteta does not have to compromise. He can pick specifically for the opponent and still keep something in reserve.
A night for the crowd as much as the team
All of this, though, sits beneath the noise that is expected to crash down from the Emirates stands. Arteta is banking on it.
The manager has often spoken about “living moments together” with the supporters. This is the clearest example yet. A raucous home atmosphere is not a luxury against Simeone’s drilled, disciplined side; it is part of the game plan.
“I don't think its messages needed. It’s what is at stake; it says it all,” Arteta said. “I think it's the occasion, it's the moment, it's the game. Let's live this together and let's make it happen. 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 from the first minute to go and get that.”
No slogans. No grand speeches. Just a clear demand: seize it.
After 20 years of waiting, with Odegaard and Havertz back in the squad, Saka flying, and a full house ready to erupt, Arsenal have exactly what they have been chasing – a shot at the final. Now they have to decide what to do with it.
