Atlético Madrid and Arsenal are more alike than fans may realise

While so much of the focus is on the Premier League title race, Arsenal really do need to seize this Champions League opportunity with both hands. The Gunners' reward for topping the league phase is a simpler path to Budapest than most. Mikel Arteta's team have so far taken care of Bayer Leverkusen and Sporting CP in the knockout stages, thereby reaching only the fourth Champions League semi-final of the club's entire history.

Next up, after their own victories over Spurs and Barcelona, is Atlético Madrid. Whoever prevails will be massive underdogs at the Puskás Aréna on 30 May, considering how strong both Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain look right now. Nevertheless, both will be desperate to be there, considering, arguably, these are the two biggest clubs to have never been crowned European champions.

Most European Cup/Champions League matches played by non-winners

Only seven clubs have featured in more than 170 European Cup or Champions League matches without ever winning the competition. Arsenal are second (because of course they are) on this all-time list, behind three-time semi-finalists Dynamo Kyiv.

Alongside the Gunners, the only other team on this list to have reached the final are Atlético Madrid. Only Stade de Reims (1956 & 1959) and Valencia (2000 & 2001) have featured in two European Cup Finals without ever getting their hands on the trophy.

The unwanted record of three is held by los Colchoneros, defeated in a replay by Bayern Munich in 1974, before losing to fierce rivals Real Madrid in the 2014 and 2016 finals, both times in unfathomably heartbreaking fashion.

Thus, both Arsenal and Atleti will be desperate to write some new club history in Budapest next month. Speaking of this, changing the entire fabric of a club is exactly what Diego Simeone has done, potentially showcasing a blueprint for Arteta to follow in North London.

Diego Simeone's Atlético Madrid honours

• La Liga champions: 2014 & 2021.

• Copa del Rey winners: 2013.

• UEFA Europa League winner: 2012 & 2018.

• Supercopa de España winners: 2014.

• UEFA Super Cup winners: 2012 & 2018.

• UEFA Champions League runners-up: 2014 & 2016.

Before Simeone arrived, Atleti as a club were going nowhere. Los Rojiblancos had been in the Segunda División as recently as 2002, regularly finishing in the bottom half when in La Liga. However, Simeone came in and made an instant impact, winning the Europa League six months after his appointment, beating Real Madrid in the Copa del Rey Final at the Bernabéu the year after before securing the La Liga title in 2014. To clinch this, Atleti dramatically drew 1-1 at Camp Nou on the final day.

Having now been in situ for 16 years, Cholo Simeone is often criticised for not regularly challenging for the league title. They have finished exactly third in seven of the last ten seasons, on course to end up fourth this year. Last weekend, los Colchoneros missed out on the chance to end their silverware drought, defeated on penalties by Real Sociedad in the Copa Final at the Cartuja.

Thus, there are parallels between this and Arteta's Arsenal. Consistent league finishes without the silverware to show for their efforts, taking on a true established behemoth that has all the financial advantages over you, or in Atleti's case, two. The only difference is that Arteta did not build up early success that would secure him credit in the bank for life, as Simeone did a decade and more ago.

Arsenal's much-maligned set-piece tactics and "boring" style of play means they have very much become the Atleti of the Premier League, hated by everyone. Well, the Gunners need to embrace this identity, as they did under George Graham, 1-0 to the Arsenal and that, and just enjoy how annoyed everyone gets by their success.

All of this backdrop sets up a fascinating Champions League semi-final, with the first leg at the Metropolitano next Wednesday, so who can rise to the challenge?

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