Atlético Madrid are not the team Arsenal fans once feared

With heavyweights Paris Saint-Germain and Bayern Munich clashing on the opposite side of the bracket, it is two clubs dreaming of winning the Champions League for the very first time doing battle for the right to face them in Budapest.

Most expected Arsenal's opponents to be old foes Barcelona, but they were dumped out by Atlético Madrid, so is this stylistically good or bad news for Mikel Arteta's team? Well, los Colchoneros may not be the side Arsenal fans remember and indeed fear.

Under Diego Simeone, Atleti have reached two Champions League Finals and won the Europa League twice, ousting Arsène Wenger's team en route to the most recent of those triumphs in 2018. Atleti under Simeone were simply impossible to score against, as Gooners will remember from their mind-numbing 1-0 defeat during their sole previous visit to the Metropolitano. However, this season, astonishingly, los Rojiblancos have one of the leakiest defences in the competition.

Most goals conceded Champions League 2025/26

Amazingly, only Qarabağ have conceded more goals in this season's Champions League than Atlético Madrid, with the Azeri champions shipping six at Anfield as well as nine across two legs against Newcastle. Of course, Atleti have played more matches than anyone else on this list, hence why their goals-per-game conceded is much lower, but this is still in stark contrast to their previous Champions League campaigns.

Atlético Madrid goals conceded by season in the Champions League

At the peak of their powers, Simeone's side conceded just eight goals in 13 Champions League matches as they reached the 2015/16 final. More recently, their goals conceded per game figure has increased pretty much season on season, with this year the highest it has been under Simeone.

In La Liga, meanwhile, there were campaigns in which los Colchoneros were letting in basically no goals at all, shipping just 18 in 2015/16 and 22 two years later. This time round, following Saturday night's 3-2 win over Athletic Club, they have now conceded 37 goals, on course to surpass their highest tally of 43 since 2011/12 with five fixtures remaining.

Thus, this is not the los Rojiblancos team they are portrayed to be by the English media. The Copa del Rey Final, that they lost on penalties after a 2-2 draw with Real Sociedad, was an open entertaining affair, as were their four matches against Barcelona in both the Champions League and the Copa semis. They have also beaten Real Madrid 5-2 and lost 3-2 at the Bernabéu during this campaign.

This would simply not have been the case in years gone by. Arsenal themselves beat Simeone's side 4-0 during the league phase, so scoring goals in this semi-final may not be the impossible mission it has felt in the past.

When Atlético knocked the Gunners out of the Europa League semi-finals eight years ago, Diego Costa scored on the cusp of half-time at the Metropolitano and Wenger's side mustered just one shot on target all night, never looking like getting an equaliser. So, while many expect this two-legged rematch to be equally low scoring, that might not necessarily be the case.

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