Arsenal have reached the Champions League final for the first time in 20 years, beating Atlético Madrid 2-1 on aggregate in their semi-final second leg at the Emirates Stadium. The result ends a wait stretching back to 2006, the last occasion the club contested a European final of this magnitude.
The Arsenal manager said the club had "created history together", according to BBC Sport, reserving particular praise for the atmosphere generated by the Emirates crowd on what he described as an "incredible night". The sentiments reflect something that has been building quietly at the club across several seasons: a growing belief that a squad assembled carefully over time was ready to compete at the very top of the continental game.
The tie had not been without its complications before a ball was kicked in north London. According to FourFourTwo, Atlético Madrid lodged a complaint with UEFA over disruption they experienced upon arriving in London ahead of the second leg. The nature of that disruption was not detailed in the report, and the complaint appeared not to affect the outcome on the night.
Atlético, managed from the Spanish capital by one of European football's most experienced tacticians, arrived knowing they needed to overturn whatever deficit they carried from the first leg. Diego Simeone's side have made a habit over the past decade of grinding through knockout ties on resilience and structure, and their presence in the last four was itself earned. That Arsenal navigated them across two legs speaks to the depth and composure now present in the squad.
Whether the subsequent celebrations were proportionate has already become a minor talking point. BBC Sport noted a degree of debate about whether Arsenal's post-match reaction was justified or, in the words of one framing, "a bit too much" — a question that tends to surface whenever a club reaches a milestone that their supporters have anticipated for a very long time. The argument seems, in context, beside the point. Twenty years is a considerable absence from the final stages of European football's premier club competition, and the occasion warranted acknowledgement.
Arsenal will now wait to discover their opponents in the final. The fixture, venue, and date have not yet been confirmed in the available reporting, but the club will prepare for European football's biggest club occasion knowing they have already done the hardest part — winning two legs against one of the continent's most obdurate sides.