For just the fourth time, we’re back in the Champions League semi-finals, which will get underway at Atletico Madrid on Wednesday (8pm UK).
We head to the Spanish capital with happy memories in Mikel Arteta’s homeland, having returned victorious on each of our last four trips, including last season’s success across the city at Real Madrid, and our superb form in Europe this season means we could equal our longest-ever unbeaten run in the competition of 13 games, set when we last reached the final in 2006.
Ourselves and the now goal-filled Atleti are the two teams that have played the most matches in the history of the European Cup without lifting the trophy: 223 and 190 respectively. The chance to create club history is tantalisingly close for both, with one set to face either Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain in the final in Budapest on May 30.
ATLETI ATTACKING EUROPE
After a massive summer reshuffle Diego Simeone’s team initially struggled, winning just one of their first five La Liga games. A run of nine wins from the next 10, including a 5-2 demolition of Real Madrid, reignited title ambitions heading into December, but losses to Barcelona and Athletic Bilbao set them back again.
They look locked to qualify for next season’s Champions League, as they are 10 points ahead of their nearest challenger, but the past month has seen them suffer successive defeats to Real Madrid, Barcelona and Sevilla in the league, before losing the Copa del Rey final on penalties to Real Sociedad. Another reverse came at Elche last week, but they finally got back to winning ways with a 3-2 win over Bilbao on Saturday.
A 14th-place finish in the Champions League league phase set up a play-off round meeting with Club Brugge, where they advanced 7-4 on aggregate. They then beat Tottenham 7-5 on aggregate to set up an all-Spanish clash with Barca, and after winning 2-0 at the Nou Camp, a 2-1 defeat was enough to progress to the semis for the seventh time, but the first since 2016/17.
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Everything you need to know about Atletico Madrid
WHAT THE MANAGERS SAY
Arteta: “It’s a massive privilege to be here again, two years in a row at the same part of the Champions League, representing our club,” he said in his pre-match press conference. “We have an opportunity, we’re going to grab it with both hands. You’re going to see a team that wants to be dominant, that wants to win it, and they want to start to decide the tie tomorrow.
“This is the status that we want, and we have earned it through incredible work, passion and quality in the last nine months. Now is the moment to make a statement, and show how good we are, how much we want it, and make it happen. It’s clear, the opportunity is in front of us, and we have to attack it.”
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Every word: Arteta’s pre-Atletico Madrid presser
Simeone: “It’s extraordinary that Atletico Madrid is in a Champions League semi-final again after nine years and after doing it for the fourth time in 14 years. I always say that dreaming is good but reality is what happens on earth. And what happens on earth is what we do and what God wants. So that’s how we behave.
“There’s no pressure. There’s responsibility. There is the excitement of being close to a huge goal that the club has never achieved. And of course there is a special excitement. It will be a hard game but we believe we can stop them. They are a good team with good set-pieces. But I think football doesn’t owe anyone anything.”
TEAM NEWS
Ebere Eze came off after scoring the winner against Newcastle United on Saturday but is fine to feature in Spain, however Kai Havertz will miss the trip after also going off in that game.
Riccardo Calafiori trained before the flight and could be in contention again, but Jurrien Timber is out as is Mikel Merino remains sidelined with his foot injury.
Ademola Lookman missed Saturday’s win against Bilbao with a muscle strain but has declared himself fit, as has Julian Alvarez who remained on the bench on the weekend having suffered with a thigh problem which kept him out of the previous three games. However Simeone has cast doubt on the former’s fitness.
Central midfielder Pablo Barrios has picked up a hamstring injury and is out, but left-back David Hancko could be available again after an ankle problem. Veteran centre-back Jose Gimenez is also striving to return after a muscular injury.
TALKING TACTICS
Adrian Clarke: Simeone is one of the very few head coaches at the highest level of European football to favour a 4-4-2 formation. His teams were previously renowned for their defensive grit, but now Atleti are an adventurous attacking outfit. Our semi-final opponents have scored in all 14 matches in Europe this term, but tellingly, they have also conceded in 13 of those.
There are goal threats with Julian Alvarez, Alexander Sorloth and the evergreen Antoine Griezmann as centre-forward options, while Ademola Lookman is a real livewire coming in off the left. He has pace and skill aplenty and was a constant threat against Barcelona in the quarter-final.
Defensively, the hosts will press with ferocity and lead the competition’s rankings for tackles won, most interceptions, and duels won. In attack, they are perhaps at their most menacing on the counter, scoring a competition-high seven goals from fast breaks in 2025/26, plus have netted 10 set-piece goals, more than any other Champions League side.
They have many strengths, but also clear weaknesses. Barcelona created seven big chances against them at the Metropolitano, with big gaps left in behind a high line a recurring theme. Only Qarabag and Real Madrid have faced more shots than Atleti, so we should have opportunities in this tough but appetising first leg.
FACTS AND STATS
We are unbeaten in our last six away games in the Champions League, our longest streak without defeat on the road in the competition since September 2006 (7).
Atletico Madrid have won only one of their last six Champions League matches against English opponents (D1 L4) – a 5-2 home win over Tottenham Hotspur last month. However they have not lost at home to an English side in six knockout-stage matches in the competition.
Our 4-0 victory in the league phase in October is Atletico’s joint-heaviest defeat in the competition (lost by four on five occasions).
This will be the 16th European Cup/UEFA Champions League semi-final tie between Spanish and English teams – the English sides have progressed in nine of the previous 15.
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Stats: Our superb UCL streak against Spanish sides
Atletico produced just 0.32 xG from open play in their defeat at Emirates Stadium and hit the target only once – both their lowest totals in a Champions League match this season. Across their other 13 games, they average 1.34 xG from open play and six shots on target.
Our four games in the knockout stages this season have produced just five goals, an average of 1.25 per game. Meanwhile, Atletico’s six games average 4.7 goals per game (28 – 17 for, 11 against).
David Raya has kept eight clean sheets in this season’s Champions League and could become just the fourth goalkeeper to record nine across a single campaign (alongside Edouard Mendy in 2020/21, Keylor Navas in 2015/16 and Santiago Canizares in 2000/01).
Marcos Llorente has scored five goals against English sides in the Champions League, more strikes than he has managed against opponents from all other nations combined (4).
MATCH OFFICIALS
It’s a swift reunion with Danny Makkelie, who fronts an all-Dutch officiating team just as he did in our last-16 second leg against Bayer Leverkusen last month. It will be the fourth time he has refereed us, which includes a semi-final victory in Spain – our 4-2 Europa League semi-final success over Valencia in 2019.
A police inspector by day, Makkelie refereed the 2019/20 Europa League final, and officiated at Euro 2020 and 2024, as well as the 2022 World Cup when he oversaw England’s semi-final success against Denmark.
Referee: Danny Makkelie
Assistants: Hessel Steegstra, Jan de Vries
Fourth official: Serdar Gozubuyuk
OUR: Dennis Higler
Assistant VAR: Pol van Boekel
PREVIOUS MEETINGS
This is the second time we have faced Atletico Madrid in a European semi-final, with the first coming in the 2017/18 Europa League. Things were looking promising in the home leg when Sime Vrsalijko was sent off after 10 minutes and Alexandre Lacazette put us in front, but his international teammate Griezmann struck eight minutes from time to level things up heading to Spain, before a Diego Costa goal in the second leg settled the tie.
Back in October, we finally played each other in the Champions League when Atleti travelled to Emirates Stadium for a league-phase encounter, but departed on the end of a 4-0 defeat, with a brace from Viktor Gyokeres plus strikes from Gabriel and Gabriel Martinelli seeing us cruise to victory.
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20 years on: An iconic UCL semi-final in Spain
LIVE COVERAGE
Tune into Arsenal.com and The Arsenal app (download now on iOS/Android) from an hour before kick-off for a special build-up show – Live From Madrid! Nicole Holliday and Jeremie Aliadiere will be pitchside at the Metropolitano Stadium, where Frimmy will take us on a stadium tour of Atleti’s home.
Nicole and Jeremie will also show you the sights of the Spanish capital, while we’ll induct our best Champions League goal of all time into our Hall of Fame, with the help of our supporters in Madrid – what will it be?
There will also be the chance to catch up with the latest edition of Live from Sobha before the action gets underway, when live commentary comes from Dan Roebuck and Adrian Clarke.
You can also find out how to watch the game on TVwherever you are in the world.
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How to watch Atletico Madrid v Arsenal on TV
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