Arsenal and a night of mad Champions League beauty

Arsenal's players let it all out after the final whistle against Atletico Madrid Adrian Dennis/AFP via Getty Images Share articleAfter all the tension and neuroses of this desperately hopeful season, Arsenal let it all go with a gigantic disco. The Emirates turned into a stage for unfettered jigs, pogos, salsas — whatever your dancing capabilities anything went down a treat — as a club turned up the music and danced as one. The Champions League final is a rare thing in these parts and those words have a sweet ring to them.  There was a wildness in the air that seemed fitting at the end of a match that began tightly coiled and descended into chaotic helter skelter as Arsenal and Atletico Madrid traded hoiked balls, crazed chases and touchline fury. Mikel Arteta has a reputation for seeking control but in the closing stages that was discarded in the simmering emotion of it all.  With time ticking along Arsenal broke through another of Viktor Gyokeres’s barging runs, like a buffalo on the loose. His marker shunted the ball out of play. Normally it would be logical to take a breath, reorganise, reset, clear heads. But no. Arteta sprinted off to retrieve the ball like a man possessed, in a hurry. It was crackers.  There was no place for calm or common sense. But in its own way it was madly beautiful, or beautifully mad. Perhaps Arteta sensed that sitting back and inviting pressure was not the wisest against this street smart opponent.  And then it was over. They reached the Champions League final in Budapest because they mastered the fine margins better on the night. A classic European scoreline of one-nil to the Arsenal was delivered by Bukayo Saka, who pounced on a rebound after Gyokeres unsettled Jan Oblak out wide and Leandro Trossard teased him with a low fizzer of a shot.  The effort levels across Arsenal’s team were top notch, especially considering twin targets of a Premier League and Champions League pursuit. Compared to the other contestants in the last four, neither Bayern Munich or PSG face such regularly intense domestic matches, and Atleti are off the pace in La Liga.  From back to front Arsenal’s team wanted this badly. David Raya was a reassuringly composed presence. William Saliba and Gabriel looked after each other to maintain the resistance. Declan Rice was indefatigable, inspired to make a difference all over the pitch. Myles Lewis-Skelly, aged 19 in his second ever start in midfield for the first team, slotted in expertly alongside him and earned a wondrous ovation from the crowd. Trossard’s technical mastery was back up to speed. Gyokeres ran after everything. Saka brought nous to the right hand side and had the knack to be in the right place at the right time for the decisive moment of deliverance. What does it all mean? For this team, as they cavorted on the pitch able to soak it all up at full time, it felt like a rite of passage.  For Arsenal, who are quietly embarrassed that their European honours do not match their wider reputation and who hold the record for the greatest number of games in Europe’s elite competition without ever winning it, it is a meaningful step in the right direction.  “Now we’re going to the level of a top club that wants to be fighting consistently for the highest trophies,” Arteta told reporters afterwards. “That’s a must, and we have to maintain it. I cannot be happier, prouder for everybody that’s involved in this football club. We knew how much it meant to everybody, we put in everything.” Arsenal’s year-on-year progress in this competition under Arteta is admirable. Four years ago they were not even in Europe at all. Then they had a season back in the Europa. Next it was a return to the Champions League after several years away, as they reacquainted themselves with the top table. The following season they made it to the semi-finals. And now here they are, waiting to find out if Bayern or PSG join them at the final.  It is some progression. “I didn’t imagine it because we were not even in Europe and we have been away from the Champions League for a long time. It’s a big step but we have been getting stronger little by little. It’s very tough and difficult, but we’re so aligned on the desire and ambition that we have for the club,” Arteta explained. “Then you have to be a bit lucky; things have to go your way. We put so much work, passion and belief into what we do and today we got rewarded to have an incredible day in Budapest in a few weeks.”  Since the 2006 final, their one shot so far at the holiest of club football grails, Arsenal’s relationship with this competition has kept the highest rungs of the ladder at arms length. For years they got in the lift but didn’t have the key to the top floor. They are the ghosts of European past in this stadium.  Against Atleti, in front of a boisterous crowd who backed them to the full, they exorcised a few.  In tune with the tifo that greeted the team onto this pitch, a ship with a route past all their European opponents so far and the lyrics to a song about following the team “over land and sea”, Arsenal push on to Budapest. Before that, the small matter of three Premier League matches to seal their fate in another competition they have been longing for for many years.  Arsenal are cherishing the moment with the wind in their sails. 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