Atletico Madrid and Arsenal played out a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League semifinal at Madrid on Wednesday night.
The second leg, scheduled for May 6 in London, will determine which team advances to the final against either Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain, with PSG currently leading 5-4 from their thrilling first leg.
The first half was tight, featuring numerous half-chances before Viktor Gyokeres scored from a penalty in the 44th minute, bringing some life to the contest just before halftime, according to UCL’s official website.
For Arsenal, Piero Hincapie, Martin Odegaard, and Noni Madueke made attempts on goal, while Julian Alvarez impressed with some skillful play in the 14th minute, though it was Gyokeres who opened the scoring after being fouled by David Hancko and converting the penalty.
Twelve minutes after the restart, the scores were levelled following a penalty scored by Argentine forward Alvarez, awarded due to a handball by Ben White.
Despite strong performances from Diego Simeone's side, including threatening plays from Alvarez, Ademola Lookman, and Antoine Griezmann-who hit the crossbar-Atletico failed to convert further opportunities, leaving the match tied as it heads to London for the return leg.
After the match, Simeone remarked, “The first half was evenly matched. Maybe they had more possession, but they did not create many chances. They have a very strong squad–when the substitutes came on, they were better than the starters. Even so, we were better than them in the second half.”
Griezmann commented, “We played better in the second half. We also played with more intensity. That is the way to go, and that is what we will do in the second leg–it will be a great game.”
Mikel Arteta, Arsenal's coach, told TNT Sports, according to the UCL website, “We had a lot of positives, a lot of very good things that we did. This team [Atleti]–the history and the record that they have at home is incredible. So we knew we were going to have to navigate that.”
Gyokeres added, “In the first half, we controlled the game quite well. We had a few good opportunities to score, and we managed to score from one of them. In the second half, they started much better and maybe deserved to get a goal eventually. Towards the end, I think we got a few okay chances.”