Arsenal Vs Atletico Madrid: Highlights and analysis – Madness, absolute madness

Arsenal hosted Atletico Madrid on Thursday night in the first leg of the Europa League semi-final. Here is the full recap, all the highlights and analysis of the 1-1 draw.

A moment of madness can ruin a lifetime’s hard work. That is certainly what it feels like. Arsenal dominated proceedings against Atletico Madrid on Thursday night. They controlled the game, created a vast number of chances, even scored the all-important goal. But they undermined all of their good work with one moment of stupidity. I feel like we’ve been here before.

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It may have been the wildest first 20 minutes to a game without a goal that I have seen in several years.  Arsenal had had eight shots, four shots on target, dominated the play through some lovely, fluid midfield passing moves, and created some great openings that should have seen them score at least a couple. Oh, and Atletico had a man sent off and Diego Simeone sent to the stands. Wild, I tell you.

We’ll start with the sending off. Sime Vrsaljiko was the culprit, committing two fouls that were deemed worthy of yellow cards. Neither were especially arguable, though perhaps the fact that they both happened within 10 minutes of the kick-off will aggrieve Simeone. The first came just two minutes in. Jack Wilshere scampered towards the loose ball, poked it past Vrsaljiko, only to be felled by a sliding challenge in the process. Then, seven minutes later, the full back and Alexandre Lacazette came to clash, the latter suffering his studs impressed on his ankle, leaving no choice for the referee but to brandish the second yellow card.

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That sent Simeone mad. His frustration only intensified when Hector Bellerin committed a foul but what was not shown a yellow card. His notoriously volatile self combusted further, thrusting his arms out, bellowing at the referee. His behaviour caught the judgement of the officials and the stands would be where he watched the remainder of this tie.

During this furore off the pitch, it was Arsenal who dominated on it. Obviously the numerical advantage helped, but even prior to the sending off, the Gunners were in the clear ascendancy, spraying the ball throughout the pitch with pace and fizz, carving through the Atletico defence with some lovely flowing moves.

Alexandre Lacazette had a number of good opportunities, stretching a volley onto the tip of the post from a lovely Danny Welbeck cross before heading at goal that Jan Oblak parried clear. Danny Welbeck hit a shot straight at the legs of Oblak after a lovely one-two with Jack Wilshere. Wilshere then failed to direct his header back across goal at the far post, while Laurent Koscielny couldn’t sort his feet out from a corner at the far post, skewing a high volley wide of the post.

As the half progressed, the chances did dry up a little and Atletico did grow into the game. A couple of snatched Antoine Griezmann shots that David Ospina saved well highlighted the threat that the Spaniards posed. The problem for Arsenal was one of momentum. While they had it, they did not take advantage of it. Even though they looked comfortable for the remainder of the half, that did not settle the nerves of their failure to make hay when things were running smoothly. Would they come to rue those missed opportunities?

Thankfully, the answer to that question, with one leg still to play, is no. The reason, primarily, is a towering Alexandre Lacazette header, directed into the ground, nestling into the corner past the stranded Jan Oblak. The goal, while excellently finished by Lacazette, who played admirably throughout, came through the ingenuity of Jack Wilshere, an individual who I questioned before kick off, a midfielder who answered such questions emphatically. After Nacho Monreal recovered the ball with a battling challenge, Wilshere played an archetypal, round-the-corner one-two, slalomed his way to the by-line and clipped the cross that Lacazette would score from into the box.

Arsenal were not wanting to rest on their laurels, however. Knowing that a trip to Madrid would be nasty, even with a one-goal buffer, they pushed on for the second. The best chance shortly after the goal fell to Lacazette again, his header at the near post from a corner glanced towards the far post, agonisingly splitting the clamour of players and the white paint of the goal. Lacazette then had a shot blocked after finding a neat pocket of space in the penalty area, before Granit Xhaka blazed over from distance. But Atletico looked happy to play for the one-goal loss.

They needn’t have, though. Arsenal were happy to give them much more than they deserved. It was a long ball forward. It was easy for Laurent Koscielny to deal with, had he been aware of the danger, had he known the situation, he had he known that a high line was totally unnecessary, had he known that Antoine Griezzman was bearing down on him. Unfortunately, he didn’t know any of those things. Koscielny bundled the clearance, Griezmann collected the rebounded shot off David Ospina, Shkodran Mustafi slipped, and Arsenal conceded the crucial away goal. Madness. Absolute madness.

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As Arsenal pressed for the second goal, it all seemed a little futile. Even if they got it, such is the importance of the away goal, that it almost needn’t matter. 1-0 was the perfect result for Arsenal. But their susceptibility to veer between the brilliant and the brittle let them down again. Atletico will be sending them a thank you card in the post. Indeed, a moment of madness can ruin a lifetime’s hard work.

Highlights