(Credit: Imago)

Evan Shaw

Tue 5 May 2026 21:53, UK

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Arsenal booked their place in their first Champions League final for 20 years as they beat Atletico Madrid 1-0 on Tuesday night.

The two teams were locked together after last week’s first leg, but it was the Gunners who made their efforts count at the Emirates Stadium to advance to the Budapest final on 30 May.

Bukayo Saka netted the only goal of the game, as he turned home from close range on the stroke of half-time, after Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak had parried Leandro Trossard’s effort back into the middle of the box.

Mikel Arteta’s men handled the big occasion well to progress 2-1 on aggregate, and they will face either PSG or Bayern Munich in the final.

Arsenal’s victory over Atletico kept their hopes of a double at the end of the season alive, while Football Insider picked out three errors from referee Daniel Siebert throughout the 90 minutes.

Arsenal denied penalty in controversial fashion

Arsenal tried to get on top of their opponents right from the off, and they saw a huge shout for a penalty waved away with just seven minutes on the clock.

The Gunners delivered the ball into the box from deep on their left wing, and while the cross sailed through and safely into the gloves of Oblak, an incident in the middle of the box caught attention.

Riccardo Calafiori was trying to break free of his marker and meet the delivery to turn it goalward, but he was dragged to the ground by Marcos Llorente, who made no attempt to play the ball himself.

Arsenal’s appeals were swiftly waved away by Siebert on the pitch, while the VAR team also saw no reason to step in and make him review his decision.

However, replays showed that Llorente had his eyes locked on Calafiori the entire time, and had no knowledge of where the ball was while it was in flight.

The officiating team paid little attention to Arsenal’s appeals, but they seemingly had a strong case that they should have been awarded a spot-kick.

Viktor Gyokeres left frustrated by rough treatment

Viktor Gyokeres worked tirelessly all night for Arsenal at the top of the pitch, and it was his run that stretched the compact Atletico defence in the build-up to the goal.

The Swedish striker got plenty of joy playing with his back to goal, and he withstood some rough treatment from the visitors’ centre-halves throughout the evening.

The best example of that came in the 32nd minute, when he was bundled over by David Hancko on the touchline right in front of Diego Simeone.

Siebert was unmoved by the incident, as he allowed the play to go on, despite Atletico re-gaining possession as a result of the unfair challenge.

The referee’s view of the incident left Gyokeres flailing his arms on the floor, and he was right to protest the decision.

The frontman got little change out of the referee all evening, and this was a clear instance where he should have been given a free-kick.

Marcos Llorente extremely fortunate to escape yellow card

Llorente was at the heart of Atletico’s efforts to resist Arsenal’s attacking quality at the Emirates, as he turned in an all-action display in the middle of the park.

The 31-year-old was involved in several key incidents during the game, as he was fortunate to avoid giving a penalty away in the early stages.

Llorente was also lucky to avoid picking up a yellow card for a challenge on Trossard in the 49th minute, when the Belgian turned away from him in the middle of the Atletico half.

The Spaniard pulled the shirt of his opponent as he spun away with the ball, and Siebert penalised the midfielder by awarding a free-kick to the opposition.

However, Llorente should undoubtedly have been cautioned for the pull, as Trossard looked set to burst into open space in a dangerous position.

Siebert was understandably keen to try and keep his cards in his pocket on such a big occasion, but that stance led to him making the wrong call here.