Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has challenged his side to make a statement against Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final on Wednesday night. The Gunners go into their clash with Los Colchoneros as favourites to make the final.
Atletico will be without midfielder Pablo Barrios and Nicolas Gonzalez through injury, but Arsenal will also be without key forward Kai Havertz and defender Jurrien Timber through injury.
“Kai is out, Eberechi Eze is available, as is Riccardo and Bukayo Saka,” he explained, confirming that Timber had also been left out of their squad. Arteta was full of praise for their opponents.
“A really tough match, a team that has a manager with a lot of experience in the competition. They have every right to be here, it’s really remarkable what they’ve done. But we know what we are capable of on any ground, and we’ve been very consistent. And tomorrow we have to play with that confidence, that desire to come here, to win the game.”
‘Now is the moment to make a statement’ – Arteta
Arteta challenged his side to take the game to Atletico Madrid, noting that it was the moment to make a statement.
“That’s the way we are all feeling, and that’s the energy we have in the team and in the club. These are the stages we want to be at, and we have achieved it through hard work, passion and quality over the past nine months. Now is the moment to make a statement, to show how good we are, how much we want it, and to go out and do it.”
“That’s what we have to do. We have prepared the game to win it. There’s no question about it, we have to be ourselves, and to do what we can with the opponent, and hopefully we can show the quality we can show.”
One of the keys for Arsenal to survive Atletico’s tendency to build-up momentum, his side were required to understand when they were doing so.
“We have a lot of tools, to be dominant, to impose our way of playing, and Atletico, the same, in diferent ways, but both teams will try to do so. We’ve seen in other games how they’ve run over other teams, and so we want to play our game and match them for belief. We can do that by understanding the moments they do that, and detecting them, and ensuring they don’t happen.”
🚨🇬🇧 The Telegraph’s headline today:
“Marcos Llorente is better known as a threat to public health than to Arsenal’s defence ahead of tonight’s Champions League semi-final…”
The article talks about his lifestyle. pic.twitter.com/ZOmyDE8BxE
— Atletico Universe (@atletiuniverse) April 29, 2026
Arteta not worried by conditions at the Metropolitano
It has been something of a running theme in England that the pitch at the Metropolitano is not in great shape, with the suggestion that it could even be a deliberate ploy. Arteta was not worried about the playing surface though.
“Every opponent, and every context, stadium, the style, the manager, is different, and they have to be highlighted, whether they are strengths or weaknesses. Especially against them, there are moments in the game we have to manage so, so well, in order to win the game.”
It is also forecast to be stormy weather this evening in Madrid, another factor Arteta wasn’t worried about.
“We adapt to any context, for the last nine months, imagine the amount of games we have played, so we adapt to any conditions to be ourselves.”
The things that unite Diego Simeone and Mikel Arteta
Before Arteta spoke to the press, Diego Simeone had declared that it is only normal for the likes of Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain and Barcelona to be interested in Julian Alvarez, but Arteta declined to opine on the Argentina forward. He was asked about comments he had made in the past noting that there is ‘more that unites me with Simeone than separates us’.
“The first thing is the passion for the game, for the profession. What he has done, changing the club over 15 years, the way he has done it, the results, the consistency, the way he’s done it, tackling any challenge. It’s something to look at. Then everyone has their style, what they feel, what they can put across to their players, if they have an identity related to the club, but he’s an absolute reference.”
#Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta wants his side to make a statement against #AtleticoMadrid in the first leg of their #ChampionsLeague semi-final. pic.twitter.com/wQLoT4RBoR
— Football España (@footballespana_) April 29, 2026
Arteta placed little value in the confidence gained from their 4-0 win over Atletico in the league phase of the Champions League.
“There are a lot of positive messages I can send to the team. But we know a lot about this team, and what they can do, especially here. Now they have some experience in these kind of games too, so it will be difficult. A very short time ago, this club went seven years without the Champions League, so I don’t take anything for granted.”
The two sides kick off at 21:00 CEST in Madrid, before returning to battle at the Emirates next Tuesday.
