Arsenal's Europa League semi-final against Atlético Madrid in the spring of 2018 occupies a particular place in the club's recent history. It was, as FourFourTwo note in framing their new quiz, the last European home fixture presided over by Arsène Wenger before his departure after nearly two decades in charge at the Emirates.
The quiz invites readers to name all eleven players who started that second leg, a fixture that ended Arsenal's campaign and, in retrospect, marked the close of a managerial era. FourFourTwo have published the challenge on their website.
Wenger announced his resignation shortly after that defeat, bringing to an end one of English football's most consequential tenures. His final seasons had grown increasingly difficult — a run of Premier League top-four finishes had been broken, and the club's supporters were divided over his continued presence even as many acknowledged the scale of what he had built. The Atlético tie, lost across two legs, underlined the distance that had grown between Arsenal and the European elite.
For those who followed that run closely, the starting eleven may come readily to mind. For others, the combination of a one-off cup occasion and the years since will make certain selections harder to place. European knockout fixtures tend to produce unexpected line-ups, and a semi-final with something significant riding on it — in footballing terms and beyond — is the kind of match that rewards careful recall rather than assumption.
The quiz is available now on the FourFourTwo website.