They had turned the flights of steps at the front of the Emirates into an impersonation of the old terraces on which their fathers and their grandfathers once stood at Highbury. They crammed on to them, craning their necks for a vantage point, to roar their welcome for the team bus carrying their players.
Arsenal fans crowded the pavement in front of the Little Wonder café before the match and squeezed on to the middle of the small roundabout on Hornsey Road, finding any space they could to show their allegiance to Mikel Arteta, Declan Rice, Bukayo Saka, Gabriel, Viktor Gyokeres and the rest.
These are the moments in the lives of supporters that are rare and precious. Arsenal may have played in a Champions League semi-final last season but they have not made the final for 20 years.
The last time they got there, it was in a riot of Villarreal yellow in the Estadio de la Ceramica when Jens Lehmann saved a last-minute penalty from Juan Roman Riquelme to send them into the 2006 final against Barcelona. Cesc Fabregas, Thierry Henry and Sol Campbell were in the team that night.
That feels like a lifetime ago so this was about history. This was about Arsenal learning to feel like winners again and trusting that they could get the job done after the 1-1 draw at the Estadio Metropolitano last week.
Bukayo Saka was Arsenal’s hero on the night as they reached the Champions League final
The Gunners produced a steely display to beat Atletico 1-0 on a tense night at the Emirates
This was about the chance to play Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest at the end of the month for the right to call themselves European champions.
And when the bus finally arrived, it was shrouded by clouds of red smoke, flanked by police vans and accompanied by roars and screams. Reserve, a protection mechanism to insure against more of the disappointment of the last 20 years, is more the Arsenal way these days but on this evening in north London, reserve was abandoned.
Maybe the footage of Manchester City shipping three goals in 13 minutes against Everton the previous evening, dropping two points in the title race in the process, was still playing in their minds. An end-of-season run that had been wrapped tight with nerves suddenly seemed to have been liberated. It felt as if, finally, Arsenal fans were allowing themselves to believe.
If there was doubt, it came in the shape of Atleti players such as Antoine Griezmann, Koke, goalkeeper Jan Oblak and Julian Alvarez, players of class and poise, who have played on the biggest stages, and who are used to the pressure that comes with nights like this. Those players exerted their influence early. They were sharp and alive.
Arsenal were slow to close Griezmann down at a free kick and allowed him to advance into a dangerous position. A couple of minutes later, Griezmann burst into the box and drilled in a cross that David Raya could only parry. Giuliano Simeone tried to force the ball home but Declan Rice blocked it.
Gabriel whistled a shot wide at the other end and Rice rampaged forward down the left, outstripping Griezmann and forcing a corner. He urged the crowd on to even greater Thebsupport. Myles Lewis-Skelly, who had kept his place ahead of Martin Zubimendi, wriggled to the goalline and threaded a ball across goal. It was begging for a single touch to tap it home but no one could provide it.
Arsenal stepped up the pressure. Rice drove the team on like a human dynamo, marauding through midfield. Viktor Gyokeres was superhuman. His running was relentless. He has been berated by some Arsenal fans this season, regarded as a weak link by others, but in the last two weeks, something has changed in him. Against Atleti, he was magnificent.
Arsenal appealed for a penalty when Griezmann brought down Leandro Trossard but the German referee decided there had not been enough contact. Others might have given it. Arsenal’s luck came and went.
Frustration crept into Arsenal’s game. Other, smaller, decisions went against them. Simeone danced his dervish dance on the touchline, never still, running up and down his technical area, always gesticulating, always instructing. Arsenal were in the ascendancy but they just could not find a way through.
Then that changed. Gyokeres beat Atleti’s offside trap and took the ball around Oblak. Oblak recovered his ground but Gyokeres’ cross found Trossard at the back post. Trossard feinted and then found space to arrow in a shot that Oblak saved brilliantly but could only parry. Saka was there. He forced his way in front of a defender, took a step and then slammed the ball into the net.
Saka pounced to score what proved to be the winning goal on the stroke of half-time
Mikel Arteta’s side are starting to believe – at home and in Europe – as they chase two trophies
The celebrations were ecstatic. ‘One-nil to the Arsenal’ has not been yelled as loudly or as exultantly as this for some time. But everyone in the stadium knew that this match was not over and not long after the interval, Atleti nearly equalised.
William Saliba tried to head a long ball back to David Raya but Giuliano Simeone anticipated it and took it around the goalkeeper. It seemed for a split second that he would roll it into an empty net but Gabriel got back with him and would not yield.
Simeone tried to force the ball home but the Brazil central defender did just enough to put him off. Replays showed Gabriel had not got the ball. He was lucky not to have conceded a penalty and been shown a red card.
Atleti claimed a penalty then and they claimed another one when Riccardo Calafiori scythed down Griezmann in the box. That would have been a spot kick but Calafiori was fortunate that the referee penalised Atleti for an earlier foul. Arsenal were starting to live dangerously. Arteta made a rash of substitutions. Saka went off. Martin Odegaard came on.
Midway through the half, Gyokeres should have put the tie out of reach. Piero Hincapie swung an inviting ball across the face of goal and Gyokeres met it at full speed. If he had kept the ball down and used the pace of the ball, he would have scored but he lifted it too high from six yards out. He had his head in his hands almost the instant the ball left his boot.
People in the crowd turned to each other and shook their heads. On such moments can victories and trophies hinge. The fans roared Arsenal on still. They knew how hard they had fought. They knew how close they were to that Villarreal moment. They knew how close they were to having a shot at winning the biggest prize in club football for the first time.
Rice was still relentless. He was an inspiration. On a night of superlatives, it was one of the finest performances by a player for an English club in European competition. A few weeks ago, people were saying Rice was tired. Tired? No chance. This Rice was wired. Nothing was going to stop him.
And then, finally, came the release. The final whistle went and the stadium erupted. At home and in Europe, Arsenal are starting to believe. The smell of cordite filled the air, not disappointment. It smelled like victory. Arsenal won a match last night and they took another leap in changing an identity.
