Saka seals Arsenal’s place in Champions League final
London: Bukayo Saka’s finish on the stroke of half-time helped Arsenal reach the Champions League final for the first time since 2006 following a tense evening in north London.
Saka’s 44th-minute goal claimed 1-0 win for the Gunners in the semifinal second-leg against Atletico Madrid, and moved into the final with an aggregate 2-1 win.
Mikel Arteta’s men dominated the early passages of play, but it was the visitors who carved out the opening opportunity with Julián Alvarez sweeping wide from a Giuliano Simeone cross via a swift attack eight minutes in.
With the Gunners forced to resort to long-range efforts for much of the first half, the hosts found a breakthrough with the interval approaching. Viktor Gyökeres expertly picked out Leandro Trossard in space to the left of the penalty spot, and the Belgian attacker somehow created the angle to get his shot away in the crowded area. When Jan Oblak could only parry the strike, Bukayo Saka was quickest to turn in the rebound, UEFA reports.
Atleti began the second period in purposeful fashion, Antoine Griezmann forcing David Raya into a smart stop with a crisp drive 11 minutes after the restart.
Both teams made triple substitutions shortly before the hour and it was Arsenal’s changes that almost put the game beyond doubt. Captain Martin Odegaard curled over almost immediately after his introduction and fellow replacement Piero Hincapié set up Gyökeres with a pinpoint delivery, but the striker was unable to keep his first-time effort down.
The Londoners, aiming to register a 30th clean sheet of the campaign across all competitions, restricted their opponents to few clear-cut openings in the closing stages to ensure they claimed their place in the Budapest final later this month.
Saka told Amazon Prime after the win, “It’s so beautiful, you can see what it means to us, what it means to the fans. We’re all so happy. This was a high-pressure game. It meant a lot to both sides, we managed it well and take ourselves to the final.”