Arsenal 4-0 Atletico Madrid
by Layth Yousif 
at Ashburton Grove

RAMPANT Arsenal blitzed Atletico Madrid with four goals in 14-second half minutes to blow away Diego Simeone’s side on a Champions League night to remember in north London.

Gabriel’s header started the rout on 57 minutes, before Gabi Martinelli doubled the lead. That was prior to a brace from the bustling Viktor Gyokeres to help the impressive Gunners blow away Simeone’s shellshocked side, posting all manner of impressive statistics.

The victory being their third win on the bounce in the Champions League this season, their sixth in succession in all competitions, as well as their ninth clean sheet in 12 matches, as effervescent Arsenal ripped Atletico apart in a thrilling statement victory.

Speaking after the match about Arsenal’s outstanding performance, a stunned Simone admitted: “Yes, I’d say the best team we’ve faced this season,” when asked if Arsenal were the strongest side his Atletico team had played this term.

“Arsenal, they compete so well, they run and they run,” he said, adding: “There’s quality all over the pitch and yeah, well they deserved to win today, and I want to congratulate them on that win as well.”

Arsenal made two changes to the team that started the 1-0 win against Fulham at Craven Cottage on Saturday evening, with Myles Lewis-Skelly and Martinelli replacing Riccardo Calafiori and Leandro Trossard, both of who dropped to the bench.

There was no Max Dowman with the Arsenal substitutes, as he played for the U19s earlier in the day, as the Young Guns lost 4-3 to Atleti in the Uefa Youth League at Boreham Wood.

Alexander Sorloth partnered Julian Alvarez in attack, with manager’s son Giuliano Simeone selected on the right ahead of Alex Baena. In the only other change from the weekend win over Osasuna, Antoine Griezmann was on the bench. It was Griezmann who scored at the same venue back in 2018, during a 1-1 draw, when Simeone’s side reached the Europa League final after easing past the Gunners 1-0 in the second leg in Madrid to deny Arsene Wenger a trophy in his final season.

Yet there was bonhomie aplenty before Tuesday evening’s clash, when Arsenal’s sporting director Andrea Berta welcomed old friends from Atletico. He was at the club in Spanish capital from 2013, becoming sporting director in 2017, and signed 14 of their current first-team squad. The charismatic Simeone working in tandem with Berta for the majority of his 13-year tenure.

All that was put to one side when Arsenal started the match brightly. Eberechi Eze’s shot from outside the box took a deflection to loop over their renowned keeper Jan Oblak, and onto the post before Declan Rice fired the rebound over when well-placed.

Ten minutes later Lewis-Skelly fired across Oblak’s goal after a spell of pressure from the home side, but Bukayo Saka at the far post was stationed a little too far from the ball to make contact.

On 18 minutes Eze played a through ball to Saka whose effort was blocked by an onrushing Oblak, alert to the danger.

Despite the Gunners dominating, there was nearly a calamitous error from keeper David Raya that saw Simone junior’s left footed shot from an acute angle fly narrowly past Raya’s far post. The unexpected chance coming after the dallying Arsenal keeper failed to clear the ball near the corner flag — with Atleti taking a quick throw to capitalise as Raya floundered in no man’s land in a vain bid when attempting to scramble back.

On 34 minutes Arsenal had the ball in the net following a sweeping move started when Zubimendi won the ball back deep in his own half, but Martinelli was correctly deemed to be offside before slotting Saka’s cross home.

In an absorbing, if goalless opening 45 minutes, Martin Zubimendi picked up a yellow card which ruled him out of the Gunners next Champions League game at Slavia Prague early next month.

Simeone’s side started the second half promisingly, when on 48 minutes, Julian Alvarez curled the ball over Raya and onto the woodwork, as Atletico nearly broke the deadlock. Arsenal were fortunate the former Manchester City attacker did not put Simeone’s side 1-0 ahead.

However, they were to spectacularly capitalise on such luck shortly afterwards.

The first sense of Arteta’s side easing through the gears came on 52 minutes when Oblak blocked Gyokeres effort.

Three minutes later Llorente clattered into Martinelli, with referee Daniele Massa awarding a free-kick.

From the dead ball, Arteta’s team, known by some as Set Piece FC struck, when Gabriel nodded home Rice’s inviting free-kick into the box, to put the Gunners 1-0 ahead as the stadium erupted.

Simeone’s quality-laden Atleti side still posed a threat. Moments after the restart Arsenal were sliced apart as Alvarez’s diagonal slide-rule pass picked out Simeone jnr between Gabriel and Lewis-Skelly. Yet, the Argentine allowed the ball to run across him allowing Gabriel to block the effort. It was instructive to note the Brazil centre-back’s untethered exuberance in blocking the effort was more intense than his goal celebration.

However, Arsenal were in no mood to be denied, and made it 2-0 shortly afterwards when Martinelli doubled the lead on 64 minutes. And 180 seconds after that, Gyokeres made it 3-0, as Arsenal left Simeone and his team looking absolutely shellshocked after the rampant Gunners score three goals in 10 minutes.

There was still time for Gyokeres grabbed his second of a now fruitful match to make the final scoreline a stunning 4-0 to Arsenal, to make it a mere three goals conceded in their opening 12 games — their best defensive shutout at the start of a season in their club’s long and illustrious 138-year history, as the Gunners extended their wins over Spanish opposition to seven games in a row.

No wonder Arteta said after the match: “I’m extremely happy and proud of the performance and the results against a really good side.”