{"id":413718,"date":"2026-05-06T00:48:10","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T00:48:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/413718\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T00:48:10","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T00:48:10","slug":"arsenal-end-20-year-wait-to-reach-champions-league-final-with-semifinal-victory-over-atletico-madrid","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/413718\/","title":{"rendered":"Arsenal end 20-year wait to reach Champions League final with semifinal victory over Atletico Madrid"},"content":{"rendered":"

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.<\/p>\n

Arsenal have never won the Champions League, with their two major European trophies coming in the 1994 Cup Winners\u2019 Cup and the 1970 Inter-Cities Fairs Cup.<\/p>\n

Their last continental final ended in a 4-1 defeat against Chelsea in the 2019 Europa League.<\/p>\n

It is shaping up to be Arsenal\u2019s greatest ever season as they chase a Premier League and Champions League double.<\/p>\n

Even Arsene Wenger\u2019s \u201cInvincibles\u201d \u2013 who won the club\u2019s last English title in an unbeaten top-flight campaign in 2004 \u2013 might have to bow to the current generation if they finish the job.<\/p>\n

Fittingly, it was Saka – the homegrown symbol of the Arteta era – who proved Arsenal\u2019s match-winner.<\/p>\n

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 yesterday<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Gunners will be crowned champions if they win their last three games against West Ham, Burnley and Crystal Palace.<\/p>\n

Once the title is decided, Arsenal will head to Hungary with a maiden Champions League crown in their sights.<\/p>\n

Arsenal endured jibes about their perceived lack of mental strength, after a run of four defeats in six games in all competitions sparked painful memories of previous failures to end their six-year wait for silverware.<\/p>\n

But the \u2018nearly-men\u2019 and \u2018serial choker\u2019 labels applied only weeks ago are on the verge of being banished forever.<\/p>\n

Thousands of Arsenal supporters massed outside the stadium before kick-off to greet their team with flares and flags, a vociferous display of affection underlining Arsenal\u2019s desperation to make history.<\/p>\n

It was the kind of evening in north London, when nothing was beyond the realm of possibility as Arsenal moved closer to casting off the shackles of two decades of underachievement.<\/p>\n

After some tense performances during the Premier League run-in, Saturday\u2019s 3-0 rout of Fulham had showed Arsenal at their flowing best in a riposte to the critics who claim they only win ugly.<\/p>\n

This was a more prosaic display but no-one with an affinity to Arsenal was bothered in the slightest.<\/p>\n

Arsenal were nearly caught on the counter in a frenetic start when Julian Alvarez shot just wide before Giuliano Simeone\u2019s close-range effort deflected past the post.<\/p>\n

But Arsenal recovered from those anxious moments to deliver a dominant spell that brought their 44th minute goal.<\/p>\n

Viktor Gyokeres\u2019 clever run unhinged the Atletico defence and his cross reached Leandro Trossard inside the area.<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Arteta jubilantly punched the air as all around him the Emirates erupted into a roiling red sea of celebration.<\/p>\n

Atletico tried to ruin the party in the second half, but Gabriel Magalhaes made a last-ditch tackle on Simeone to avert a certain goal before David Raya repelled Antoine Griezmann\u2019s blast.<\/p>\n

Arteta recently revealed he visualised Arsenal conquering the Champions League even in the difficult early days of his reign.<\/p>\n

The Spaniard now is just one win away from seeing that daydream become a glorious reality.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was a cathartic night for Arsenal, who are back in the Champions League final for the first…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":413719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[9],"tags":[34953,9092,49537,212684,212685,31100,8127,5904,1888,305,14731,27430,111,139,69,1523,19328,20488,212686,80517,5500,213,2044,61,1865,8982,5273,102,1530],"class_list":["post-413718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-sports","tag-20year","tag-against","tag-arsenal","tag-atletico","tag-bukayo","tag-champions","tag-end","tag-final","tag-first","tag-have","tag-league","tag-madrid","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz","tag-over","tag-reach","tag-reached","tag-saka","tag-sealed","tag-semifinal","tag-sports","tag-time","tag-to","tag-today","tag-victory","tag-wait","tag-with","tag-years"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=413718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/413718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/413719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=413718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=413718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=413718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}