By the time the Arsenal players eventually got back to their dressing room, unable to stop embracing each other and thumping the air in delight, Mikel Arteta barely said a thing. He knew he didn’t need to, but he also knew he probably wouldn’t have been able to get a word in if he tried. There was too much joy, too many people jumping around. It was all about the “feeling”, as Arteta put it.
The same was true of the 1-0 victory over Atletico itself. Arsenal were obviously tactically drilled and primed but they were also well aware that the key to this match was a willingness to fight. The feeling.
Diego Simeone’s side may not have the most potent attack – some among Arteta’s staff were actually surprised that Julian Alvarez even played, given the first-leg injury and how he limped – but they can drag anyone into a battle and make you go deep.
“The way they compete,” Arteta purred afterwards. “The answer they immediately have to everything that you try to do to them. It’s incredible.”
The Basque’s enthusiasm for that may further inform the ongoing discussion about styles, Bayern Munich-Paris Saint-Germain and what the contrast between the eventual finalists will say about the wider game. By then, though, Arsenal might look very different, like something more akin to the more complete side that beat Bayern Munich 3-1 back in November.
They already feel different. They feel like Champions League finalists.
That is no small thing given it’s the stage every player wants to be on, to even have the chance of glory. By the time they get there, they may even be English champions, for the first time in 22 years.
And this win may help. It is the other effect of an achievement like this, immense as it is on its own terms. A season filled with “angst” – to repeat a word so commonly used about this campaign – now has a sense of assurance.
There’s an end destination. Arsenal know they’re going somewhere, in this case to Budapest. The meaning of that could be seen in Riccardo Calafiori jumping into the air at the final whistle and Gabriel sinking to his knees.
The mood from two weeks ago, and especially just before the 2-1 defeat to Manchester City, is completely transformed. A wave of positivity is now rushing through the club. To think the supporters were so suffering but two and a half weeks ago, when they lost in this same stadium against Bournemouth.
“You look to the supporters now and they are just immensely proud and happy,” Arteta said. “That’s when our job makes sense because many other times it’s difficult to find the right reason why we do what we do, but when these things happen, then everything that we do obviously is worth it.”
They still have to go and actually win something, but it currently doesn’t feel like there’s the same sense of toil about that. “Everybody can feel a shift in energy, in belief, in everything,” Arteta said. That’s not just psychological.
One of the most striking things about the victory over Atletico, and arguably one of the main reasons for it, was Arsenal’s strength in depth. After months of injury problems, they now have almost everyone back fully fit. One insider pointed to how crucial Kai Havertz is to Arteta’s pressing, to the point he’s been viewed as almost indispensable over the past few weeks. And yet here he couldn’t even get on, because Arsenal had too many options.
That could end up being the difference in everything. Diego Simeone was conscious of it, not least in trying to plan for the various stages of the game. The Argentine typically tried to ratchet up all tension beforehand to turn the game into a fight, but Arsenal were appreciative of how magnanimous he was once hostilities ceased. It’s all part of the game.
Even Simeone did reference that his team “did compete at an incredible level against a team with much stronger financial power than us”. The difference was witnessed in the benches. While Atletico struggled to create once Alvarez and Antoine Griezmann went off, Arsenal just had more options. It’s the difference between the super clubs and the rest, the key difference in the modern game.
Arsenal of course know it from the other side, having had to go toe to toe against Manchester City. They have kept persevering, though, as personified by two key players on the night.
Arteta made sure to praise Viktor Gyokeres. He rose to the moment, after a season where he’s often been criticised. The manager then talked at length about Myles Lewis-Skelly, who may well end up being seen as a real difference at an absolutely crucial period.
His sudden return to midfield has restored an energy to Arsenal when they needed it most; when he needed it most. The teenager was used so infrequently this season that talk rose over whether this boyhood Arsenal fan may have to leave the club. He can now suddenly be hopeful of a World Cup again.
Arteta again put the shift down to “a feeling”. “And I’ve been tough on him. I talked and he has been very persistent and consistent in his behaviours and in the manner that he’s been knocking on the door constantly to have the right to play. And I think he deserves it and that’s why he plays.”
Now, Arsenal actually have to go and play West Ham United on Sunday. They’ve so far had a great week. Fulham were dispatched with ease, in an expansive manner that sparked a resurgence. Manchester City unexpectedly dropped two points at Everton, to cede the initiative in the title race at this crucial stage of the season. Arsenal then got back to the European stage they’ve long dreamed of.
It can still go wrong. They still have to actually go and win something. The sense is rising that the entire title may well come down to Sunday, given the remaining fixtures.
Duly, once he’d requested that the huge speakers in the dressing room put on “that TikTok song”, as has become disparaged, Arteta did have one final word. “Let’s go and win on Sunday.”
