If Arsenal finally wins the UEFA Champions League, the name Bukayo Ayoyinka Temidayo Moses Saka will enter the club’s folklore for having scored the only goal that took them to the final, after 20 solid years.
Apparently determined to throw overboard all the age-long doubts and pervasive perception of the club as the nearly-men of English football, this version of Arsenal on Tuesday night at the Emirates shifted the gears to get the job done -a place in the Budapest final to face either Bayern Munich or defending champions PSG, both of whom lock horns tomorrow (Wednesday).
In Abuja, as Nigerian fans screamed his surname “Saka! Saka! Saka!” in celebration after the game, it was obvious that the connection to one of their own by names, though he belongs fully to England, runs deep.
Born on 5 September 2001 in Ealing, Greater London, to Nigerian Yoruba parents, Adenike and Yomi Saka, the younger of two children, Bukayo’s parents had emigrated to London from Nigeria as economic migrants.
Everything that Arsenal had poured into a hugely impressive Champions League campaign came down to Tuesday’s match.
It was not about more plaudits, more pride. It was purely about taking the next step, moving to the verge of history.
On an increasingly frenzied night, when the ghosts of previous near misses under Mikel Arteta provided a part of the story, they made surely the boldest advance so far under their manager.
When it was over, Arteta led the wildest of celebrations, the emotions spilling everywhere, the party set to rage long into the night.
But it was the prospect of what lay ahead in the final against PSG or Bayern Munich that tantalised.
No club has played more European Cup or Champions League games than Arsenal without winning the trophy. Could the longest of waits be about to end?
Arsenal Players Made To Suffer
There was suffering for Arsenal. Of course there was. It is unavoidable on nights like these and Arsenal hearts skipped beats at various points, especially when the Atlético Madrid substitute Alexander Sørloth swung at an inviting low cross in the 86th minute and missed.
Why Arsenal Won
Arsenal deserved to progress. They were the better team in the first half and they did enough after the interval, two certainties seeing them through.
One was their bolted door defence, which has conceded only six goals in the competition, two of them coming in the meaningless final tie of the league phase against Kairat.
The other was Saka. The winger will remember his gilt-edged miss in the semi-final second leg at PSG last season, which could have reduced the aggregate deficit to a single goal with 10 minutes still to play.
There were no regrets for him on Tuesday at the Emirates, only the glory of his decisive goal at the end of the first half – a close-range finish after the Atlético goalkeeper, Jan Oblak, had coughed up a Leandro Trossard shot.
Arsenal are into only their second final; the first since 2006 when they lost to Barcelona.
They will be the underdogs against PSG or Bayern. And yet they will back themselves to spring the upset. After all, nobody has beaten them thus far in the tournament this season.
It was a night that was framed from an Arsenal point of view by the sense of possibility, partly because of what had happened on Monday night at Everton where Manchester City could only draw. Arsenal can almost touch the Premier League title.
This was something else, a shot at the ultimate club final and the idea had been to harness the good vibes from Saturday’s win against Fulham, which had been thumping and unusually stress-free.
End-of-season Fulham or Diego Simeone’s Atlético in a showpiece semi-final? Nobody in Arsenal red had anticipated anything other than a battle royale and that was how it played out.
First Half
Arsenal were on the front foot in the first half and they probed for gaps. Three times they got in behind but Atlético either cleared or locked up the middle.
Everything changed when Arsenal did so for a fourth occasion in the 44th minute.
It was a pass up the inside right from William Saliba and Viktor Gyökeres was in; Oblak racing from his line, then thinking better and retreating.
Gyökeres crossed and when it went all the way through for Trossard on the far side, Atlético fought to regain their shape.
Trossard jinked inside and unloaded, and Oblak may have seen it late through a crowd. His parry was weak and Saka was the sharpest to the rebound, which rattled the net, 1-0. Enough to get them to the final in Budapest.
*PHOTO CAPTION: Saka (m) spreads his arms in celebration after scoring the goal that denied Atletico a place in the Champions League final.
