Arsenal and Atlético Madrid named their starting lineups at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night ahead of the second leg of their Champions League semi-final, with kickoff set for 8pm BST after a 1-1 draw in Madrid.
Arsenal, favoured to go through before the match, made five changes from the first leg and handed Myles Lewis-Skelly a start in midfield in place of Martin Zubimendi. Eberechi Eze, Bukayo Saka, Riccardo Calafiori and Leandro Trossard also came into the team, while Noni Madueke, Gabriel Martinelli, Piero Hincapié and Martin Ødegaard dropped to the bench. Kai Havertz was named among the substitutes after shaking off injury concerns.
For Atlético, there was just one change from the side that drew the first leg, with Robin Le Normand coming in for Johnny Cardoso. Julián Álvarez also kept his place after being a fitness worry, a significant detail after he was taken off with an injured ankle in the first leg and then missed the weekend game at Valencia.
The return match carried the feel of a night Arsenal expected to control, but Atlético arrived with a player who has already shaped their European run. Álvarez’s equaliser in the first leg made him the first Atlético Madrid player to score ten goals in a single Champions League campaign, and his 25 goals in 41 appearances underline how quickly he has settled. Lionel Messi needed 42 appearances to reach 25.
The build-up around the ground matched the scale of the tie. Arsenal’s team bus reached the Emirates through a crowd in full party mode on the streets of Holloway, while Atlético stayed at the five-star Courthouse Hotel in Shoreditch after using the four-star Marriott Hotel in Regent’s Park during their 4-0 defeat in October. Diego Simeone denied that the hotel switch was down to superstition, saying only: “The hotel was cheaper.”
Mikel Arteta said before kickoff that he had never seen an atmosphere like this and welcomed the energy inside and outside the stadium. He said Lewis-Skelly has played many times in midfield and is flexible, while stressing that Arsenal needed to be aggressive with the ball and adaptable against a team that can manage moments in games. He also said he hoped Saka could keep the form he showed a few days earlier and added that referee decisions were beyond Arsenal’s control. The night now belongs to the football, with a place in the final on the line and the second leg finally under way.