Arsenal vs Atletico Madrid: 5 Talking Points

Indian Super League Prediction

April 20 2024, 07:30 PM

Goa

Chennaiyin FC

Despite being reduced to 10 men, Atletico Madrid manage to share the spoils with Arsenal. — Despite being reduced to ten men quite early in the match, Atletico Madrid managed to share the spoils with Arsenal.

Kolkata, April 27: Arsenal have handed over the advantage to Atletico Madrid after a late goal by Antoine Griezman earned the visitors a share of the spoils and the all-important away goal in the first leg of the Europa League semifinal at the Emirates Stadium.

The Gunners will now have to do something out of the box at Wanda Metropolitano to make a come back in the tie. Though Atletico played with ten men in the field for more than 80 minutes of the match, they still showed enough resilience to hold the Gunners at their own fort.

Alexandre Lacazette's brilliant header in the 62nd minute was cancelled out by Griezmann's goal in the 82nd minute. Here are the five important talking points of the match:

1.Proving his worth

It seems the big money summer transfer move for Alexandre Lacazette has not gone waste for the Gunners. The Frenchman took a bit of time to settle, but now is proving his worth. With Pierre Emerick Aubameyang being ineligible, Lacazette has a great chance to show his potential. He has done that exactly and his thumping header gave the Gunners the lead in the match. Lacazette holds the key to Arsenal's comeback.

2. Best goalkeeper

Jan Oblak is considered one of the best goalkeepers in world football right now. The Slovenian showed his class again in this match. In the first half, the Gunners were dominating after Atletico were reduced to ten men inside the first 10 minutes. Oblak made several good saves during the match and his one-handed save of Ramsey's header in the finishing stages of the match was a masterpiece.

3. Away goal advantage

An away goal advantage means a lot to a team in such a tie and Atletico will have that luxury going into the return leg at home next week. Despite being reduced to 10 men, Atletico kept Gunners at bay. Gabi and Stefan Savic came in place of Kevin Gameiro and Angel Correa in the second half to strengthen their defense. Griezmann scored a very much important goal against the run of the play. Atletico can now play with their own defensive approach in their home leg one week later.

4. Defensive woes

The Gunners clearly failed to take numerical advantage despite the opposition being reduced to 10 men early.They took the lead in the second half, but were not able to hang on to it with defensive lapses haunting them again. David Ospina made a good save in the one-on-one situation. But Griezmann scored from the rebound to give Atletico the advantage.

5. Is comeback possible?

It is going to be tough for the Gunners to make a come back. It is really difficult to score against Atletico at their home as they are very good defensively. The determination will surely be there from the Gunners and Arsene Wenger will be eager to finish his career on a high note by winning the Europa League.