Arsenal beat Atletico Madrid to reach Champions League final: Stats
What's the story
Arsenal have reached the UEFA Champions League final for the first time in two decades. The Gunners secured their spot with a 1-0 victory over Atletico Madrid at the Emirates Stadium on Wednesday night. The win gave them a 2-1 aggregate victory over the Spanish side. Bukayo Saka scored the decisive goal just before half-time, capitalizing on a rebound from Leandro Trossard's shot that was parried by Atletico goalkeeper Jan Oblak.
Match
How did the match pan out?
Despite some close calls, including a near goal by Giuliano Simeone in the first half, Arsenal's defense held firm. Declan Rice made a crucial tackle to deny Simeone a certain goal. Gabriel Magalhaes also came up with another goal-saving challenge on the same Atletico player after half-time. The Gunners were able to withstand Atletico's attacks and missed opportunities of their own to secure their place in the final.
Historic achievement
Arsenal will face either Bayern Munich or PSG
This is just the second time Arsenal have reached the Champions League final, with their first appearance coming in 2006 when they were beaten by Barcelona. The Gunners will now face either Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain in Budapest on May 30. Mikel Arteta's side put up a strong defensive performance to limit Atletico's chances and missed some opportunities themselves to make the game safe.
Opta stats
Contrasting records for the two teams
Arsenal have equaled their club record for most wins in a single season (41 across all competitions), previously winning 41 in the 1970-71 campaign. Atletico Madrid failed to win either leg of a major European semi-final for the first time since 1998-99 in the UEFA Cup (L2 v Parma), and for just the second time in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League, after losing both legs versus Real Madrid in 1958-59.
Opta stats (2)
Massive feats attained by Arsenal
Mikel Arteta will be the second-youngest manager to lead Arsenal in a major European final (44y 65d on the day of this season's UEFA Champions League final), after Terry Neill in the 1980 Cup Winners' Cup (38y 6d v Valencia). Of the 44 instances of a team playing 14+ games in a UEFA Champions League campaign, Arsenal are now the only one to remain unbeaten through their first 14 matches of a single edition.
Opta stats (3)
Unbeaten run and clean sheets magic
The Gunners are now on their longest ever unbeaten run in the European Cup/UEFA Champions League (14 games), overtaking their 13-game run between March 2005 and April 2006. Arsenal kept a clean sheet for the 30th time across all competitions this season. It's their most in a single campaign since 1993-94 (30) and most by a Premier League team since Liverpool in 2021-22 (32). Arsenal keeper David Raya kept his 9th clean sheet of the season.
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Emirates joy for Saka in the UCL
Saka is now directly involved in 14 goals in 14 Champions League appearances at the Emirates Stadium, scoring nine times and providing five assists. Overall, only Robin van Persie (13) and Theo Walcott (10) have scored more goals in the competition at the Emirates for Arsenal.
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Here are the match stats
From 13 attempts, the Gunners had 2 shots on target. Atletico had 2 shots on target from 9 attempts. In terms of touches in the oppositon box, both sides managed 20 each. Arsenal had 53.50% ball possession and won 5 corners.
Twitter Post
Budapest calling!
Saka sends The Arsenal to Budapest ❤️#UCL pic.twitter.com/eQucYm3Dho
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 5, 2026