It may not be Arsenal’s most celebrated win over a club from the Spanish capital in 2025 but there was something seismic, something spectacular about it nonetheless. Atletico Madrid did not just emulate Real Madrid, beaten at the Emirates Stadium in April: they surpassed them. And not in the right way. Real lost 3-0 on one of Mikel Arteta’s greatest nights. In the space of 13 surreal minutes, Arsenal scored four times against the club who used to be the byword for defensive solidity.
Arteta may often be accused of being too cautious, too conservative, but this was Arsenal being rampant and expansive. This was a statement result. Arteta may shrug off a status as favourites for the Premier League but last season’s semi-finalists illustrated they will be a serious force in the Champions League, too.
If Arteta could enjoy the scoreline, he could certainly savour the identity of one of the scorers. Viktor Gyokeres was deep into an eighth game without a goal and, apart from one shot that Jan Oblak saved, he scarcely looked likely to provide one. Then came two goals in three minutes, the first deflected, the second directed in with his thigh. Gyokeres’ opener, ending his drought, was inadvertently redirected by David Hancko but relief engulfed the Emirates when it nestled in the net. The £54m forward’s goals were the two least significant, in the context of the game, but perhaps the more important, in the context of their season and his Arsenal career.
Arsenal had pulled away from Atletico with different goals from different Gabriels: Gabriel Magalhaes with a trademark header, Gabriel Martinelli from a terrific counter-attack. The razor-sharp Martinelli is shaping up as their Champions League specialist: he has scored in all three games as Arsenal have made a 100 percent start. Three more wins should book a top-eight finish, and they can plan to skip the play-off round.
They are taking a familiar route in another respect, too. The Premier League was supposed to be the set-piece league. When Arsenal play, the Champions League is, too. They bookended the scoring with dead-ball goals. Declan Rice’s free kick, curling in viciously, was glanced in by Magalhaes. His deep corner was met by Gabriel, who allowed Gyokeres to thigh in his second. Rice had been the scourge of Real with his free kicks, when shooting. Atletico had no answer to his set-pieces. Knowing Arsenal excel at them is one thing, stopping them another altogether.
And Magalhaes is a phenomenon in his own right. It is hard to think of a centre-back who is so consistently menacing in the opposition’s penalty box as the Brazilian, who ended with a goal and an assist. Atletico, who had been threatening to break the deadlock themselves, instead capitulated. This, it transpired, was far more painful than having to endure cold showers after training on Monday.
Arsenal’s four-goal blitz was all the more remarkable as there was a case for saying that, early in the second half, Atletico looked likely to break the deadlock. Julian Alvarez was outstanding and curled a shot against the bar.
Before the break, he had almost curled the ball into an unguarded net from an improbable angle, David Raya having taken a risk in possession and being both caught out, and caught out of possession, by Guiliano Simeone.
But there had been an ambition to Arsenal’s play. Arteta has released the handbrake. Playing Eberechi Eze as a No 10 almost yielded a dividend, albeit in fortunate fashion, when his shoot looped up off Hancko and on to the bar, while Rice could have scored the rebound. Eze supplied the defence-splitting pass, too, when Jan Oblak made a terrific save from Bukayo Saka.
And Martinelli oozed with menace. He had the ball in the net earlier – offside, applying a touch to Saka’s cross-shot – but if the celebrations were curtailed then, they were not when he curled in a shot after a storming run by Myles Lewis-Skelly. Arsenal had possessed an attacking threat from their full-backs from the off, and Arteta was justified in recalling Lewis-Skelly. He and Jurrien Timber were both prominent in the final third.
The side’s flair was apparent, too, in a lovely flick by Martin Zubimendi when he had sent Gyokeres clear, before Oblak again saved.
That Zubimendi collected a caution may not concern Arsenal. He has three in as many Champions League matches and will serve a ban, but against Slavia Prague. He will be back for Bayern Munich and that, given this result, is a game Arsenal may not need to win.
In contrast, Atletico, beaten twice in England after losing to Liverpool, have rather less leeway, at least to finish in the top eight. They did become the first team in three games to record a shot on target against Arsenal. But that will be of scant consolation to Simeone. Not after those 13 minutes that were awesome for Arsenal but awful for Atletico.
