Team news as Gunners juggle injuries ahead of crucial Champions League semi-final

Diego Simeone’s Atletico host Arsenal with both sides in pursuit of a first-ever Champions League trophy
Atletico Madrid host Arsenal in the first leg of their Champions League semi-finals, with both teams still in pursuit of a maiden trophy in Europe’s top tier.

Tuesday night saw PSG edge out Bayern Munich in a thrilling 5-4 first-leg tie showcasing the best of both sides - although tonight’s affair is likely to be a rather different type of football altogether.

Diego Simeone’s side saw off Barcelona in an enthralling 3-2 quarter-final tie on aggregate, while Mikel Arteta’s men did just enough in a rather more pedestrian 1-0 aggregate win over Sporting Lisbon.

Arsenal ran out 4-0 winners in the two sides’ league phase encounter earlier this season but both sides have transformed since then.

The Gunners appear depleted and low on confidence after being pegged back in the Premier League title race, while Atletico ran out 3-2 winners in La Liga in their last game and have looked a different beast in the knockout stages.

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A familiar name will be overseeing proceedings tonight - Danny Makkelie, the Dutch police inspector.

His assistants are Hessel Steegstra and Jan de Vries with Dennis Higler in charge of the VAR booth, assisted by Pol van Boekel.

They may all be expecting a busy evening at work.

Not a single member of that Arsenal team remains at the club but Atletico’s squad still contains Griezmann, Jose Gimenez, Koke and goalkeeper Jan Oblak.

It was only October when the teams most recently met - Atletico departing the Emirates with a 4-0 defeat because of a brace from Viktor Gyokeres and a goal apiece from Gabriel and Gabriel Martinelli.

But it is worth remember that match was scoreless until almost an hour in.

This Atletico is not the same as the Atletico of old and if Diego Simeone can seal a Champions League title it would cap a truly astonishing evolution, according to senior correspondent Richard Jolly .

Football’s most prestigious trophies are not lifetime achievement awards.

If they were, Mikel Arteta and Diego Simeone may see a glint of silverware in spring.

Arteta’s three consecutive second-place finishes in the Premier League and back-to-back semi-finals in the Champions League can lend themselves to the idea he deserves to win a major prize.

But so does the man in the opposite dugout at the Metropolitano.

Mikel Arteta has told his Arsenal players to go behind enemy lines and deliver a statement victory tonight.

Speaking on the eve of his side’s pivotal match in the Spanish capital, which is forecast to be affected by a heavy storm, Arteta said: “This is the stage that we want to be and we have earned it through incredible work, passion and quality in the last nine months.

“Now is the moment to make a statement and show how good we are, how much we want it and make it happen.

The opportunity is in front of us and we have to attack it.

“We have prepared the game to win it.

There’s no question about that.

We know the difficulty of the match, but I think we have shown in Europe, in any ground, what we are capable of.

“We’ve been very consistent and tomorrow we have to play with that confidence, with that desire and that will.

We have to come here to win the game.”
To see the Arsenal squad at training this week, you wouldn’t necessarily think they were about to play for just a second Champions League final in their history.

So many people at the club say they’ve just been more relaxed, and that’s actually been the case for every European game this season.

It has been a quirk of this otherwise arduously laboured campaign .

There’s been so much focus on the Premier League and everything that great quest represents , that the greatest trophy in club football has almost been… overlooked.

And yet here they are, the squad newly abuzz.

The big question is whether Ademola Lookman can feature having sat out the weekend La Liga win against Athletic Club owing to a muscle issue.

Julian Alvarez is expected to be involved having shaken off a thigh issue.

Defenders Jose Gimenez and David Hancko could return too following injuries but Pablo Barrios will not be in the engine room owing to a hamstring strain.

Eberechi Eze came off after scoring the winner against Newcastle United on Saturday, a nervy result that moved Arsenal back to the Premier League’s summit.

But he is apparently fine to feature tonight.

There is less positive news around Kai Havertz though.

The Germany star also hobbled off at the weekend and is not involved this evening.

Riccardo Calafiori is back in training and may return to the bench, though Jurrien Timber and Mikel Merino remain absent.

After the highest-scoring semi-final game in the competition’s history, the expectation from all quarters is that tonight’s match will be a little more, well, measured.

No less intense, of course, but instead of the attack after attack approach at Parc des Princes, the Metropolitano should see two teams more eager to keep things a bit tighter.

A prediction is difficult beyond feeling confident that the tie will be very much alive for next week’s second leg in north London.

Welcome to The Independent’s coverage of tonight’s Champions League action as Arsenal take on Atletico Madrid in the second semi-final tie.

Yesterday saw a thrilling first leg play out between PSG and Bayern Munich as the reigning champions won 5-4 in Paris to take a slim lead into the second leg in Germany next week.

Now the onus is on the Gunners and Atleti to replicate the exciting nature of that tie when they come face-to-face this evening.

We’ll have all the team news, line-ups and latest updates so stick with us as we build up to kick off at 8pm.

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