Arsenal are into the Champions League final! (Clip)

0:00Ryan Hunn: Hi everyone, Ryan here. You're about to listen to a clip of today's episode of Stadio where Musa and I talk about Arsenal getting through to the Champions League final after their win over Atleti in the second leg. If you want to listen to this episode, along with every other episode of Stadio ad-free in full, you can go to patreon.com forward slash stadio or click the link in the podcast description and sign up as a Stadio member.

0:45Ryan Hunn: hello everyone it's wednesday welcome back to stadio i'm ryan that's musa how are you doing who cares how are you doing who cares i'm all right more happy actually the children yearn

0:58Musa Okwonga: the children yearn for more.

1:01Ryan Hunn: It was pretty cool, eh? Unbelievable. Pretty cool. Before we get into it, we hope everyone's staying safe and well. Just a very, very, very quick couple of bits of admin. Go and check Kickback Soccer for some podcasts that you and I have appeared on. I did an episode of Open Mic, which went up last week on Kickback Committee. You recorded something yesterday. When's that out?

1:22Musa Okwonga: I'm not sure exactly, but it was just looking at Democratic Republic of Congo's and their prospects and just what it means

1:30Ryan Hunn: Today we're just going to talk about the Champions League semi-final, second leg between Arsenal and Atleti and we'll have another episode going up tomorrow about the outcome of the Bayern PSG game and then what that means for the final itself I don't even really know where to begin

1:46Musa Okwonga: Well, Atleti going to Arsenal and Arsenal won Atleti 0 I think, we've got to start with that

1:52Ryan Hunn: Arsenal going through to the second And the second European Cup or Champions League final on the men's side in their entire history. I've been lucky enough to see, well, I will be lucky enough to have seen both of them, hopefully.

2:06Musa Okwonga: The first in 20 years. I mean, what I mean by that, just to give a sense of, the first in 20 years doesn't even cover it. The journey that Arsenal have been on in the last few years under this coach in the absolute wilderness. it's really important to reflect on this I think because Saka Bakaya Saka scoring the winning goal the journey that he's been on for Arsenal and for England he's come back from places that most footballers psychologically don't return from they actually don't if you look at even the fate of those other two footballers who had their penalties saved or missed in the Euros what it did to them psychologically I mean of course they're resilient but Saka's carried so much he's carried so much so it's really symbolic and fitting that he did so well there Mikel Arteta lots of questions asked about him and conservatism that is one of the boldest coaching selections to pick Myles Lewis Skelly in sentiment field in a Champions League semi-final against that Atleti against that Atleti is one of the boldest coaching decisions I've ever seen it was genuinely incredible you know we talked about Ancelotti's gamble throwing on Druselu in the Champions League semi against Bayern it's up there with that I think it's bold actually because that was like a place in desperation that sub but this was like more like a kind of oh you're going to put on the front foot you're going to go out there and play football

3:27Ryan Hunn: um so I went up against I think with Miles I wanted to talk about Miles later but he went up against the player who has played the most amount of games for Atletico Madrid in their entire history by 200 by 200 Koke has played 200 more games for Atletico than anyone else and he has been a stalwart of that midfield through multiple iterations of this atleti team. He's won stuff for Spain. He's been part of a Spain core for years and years and years. He's kind of seen it all. He's won league titles. He's been to Champions League finals. And I think that, I was going to talk about this later, but seeing as we've gone there, I think making two senior appearances in centre midfield, your first two senior appearances in centre midfield at 19 years old and they come in a must-win league game towards the end of the season in May and the second leg of Champions League semi-final against that Atleti midfield and you have the only moment that was remotely wobbly was when you tried to roll Marcus Llorente in the first half and you got a little bit unlucky to be honest and you got a foul called against you.

4:38Ryan Hunn: That was literally it and you probably shouldn't have even got the ball in the first place. That is it? And then the adjustments, and I said this to you

4:45Musa Okwonga: I think last night, the adjustments he made after he made that mistake were incredible. Like the risk profile, like the choices that he made before and after that. I mean, like the maturity of his decision making and the boldness of this selection. And I'm thinking now, if you look at like Cesc Fabregas, even Cesc Fabregas was not given that level of responsibility that early. Like, yeah, I know he played in the Community Shield and he was like 17, right? But it's different. The stakes are vastly different.

5:10Ryan Hunn: He was phased into that position. But that was his position, I think for Myles to be dropped in and loads of people just expected that Zubarbendi would come back in for this for the Atleti game I think to play an unchanged side and like it was never really an issue there were some issues potentially but I think it's a Champions League semi-final, not with Myles but in terms of the game itself where Arsenal wobbled at moments but it's a Champions League semi-final you can't breeze through a Champions League semi-final look what Bayern and PSG did last week you could say it was a in one side of it it was an unbelievable attacking display in a semi-final but it was also full of wobbles but yeah man I just think it was one of many many many very very positive things from last night

5:57Musa Okwonga: and the reason I started with it is because it was the most symbolic for me because against Atleti who actually don't have the best record against English teams but it's still a semi-final it's one where it was a last chance saloon absolutely for Griezmann and possibly even for Koke because how many more semis do they reach it's the best Atleti attack well not the best but it's my favourite Atleti attack it's my favourite attack in terms of the the range of what they got Lukman Alvarez and Griezmann that front three can do serious damage and I thought it had Champions League winning potential I think I still think it did but what Arsenal did what they produced against a team with that quality Ben White's defence on Adam and Lukman and then Saka tucking in because actually Saka didn't find his rhythm that early in the game I think in an attacking sense but defensively he was always diligent I just thought everything even the choices about going along when they had to

6:47Ryan Hunn: right

6:47Musa Okwonga: they weren't too vain they weren't trying to play out and keep it too precise the choice the choice to leave like Martin Odegaard on the bench which I think was I think it was the right choice and I tell you why because I tell you why I say this because specifically the way that Atleti played in this game and this is not a knock on them they want you to camp the edge of their box they wanted the Barcelona type approach the high line build patiently look for the gaps and they spring on you and they're gone. What they didn't expect and this is what Victor Jokorish exposed perfectly in the tactics there going direct going long they hated those duels.

7:22Musa Okwonga: We've said many times this is not the old Atleti right but I don't think we realised how far from the old Atleti it was in the sense that they didn't enjoy the physicality. Like the amount of wear and tear that Jokorish put on them.

7:34Ryan Hunn: I can't remember when the last time I felt maybe this complete about an Arsenal line-up and what I mean by that is that every player contributed no matter how small. There was no one who was fighting form, there was no one who was fighting fitness, even though if they were, there was no sign of it. And in terms of stylistically, because they have had wobbles and they've had narrow victories at points this season, then they've been creaking for a while purely because of who they've been missing, right? And who they've had to play in terms of minutes that they would like to have rested players. I don't think they've been credited enough this season for, they will play games that are in front of them.

8:11Ryan Hunn: and they will play it to a level that few teams can match up in multiple styles. I think we talked about this earlier on in the season, that they were controlling games more than anyone else in the Premier League could. They were also playing in transition pretty amazingly. They could break on teams really well. They could play the physical game. They could switch to set pieces if they needed to break open games. I think what we saw from this is that having someone with the physical presence and now the confidence of Victor Jochores up front makes the pitch way bigger.

8:42Musa Okwonga: And the confidence was the key. I've got to say this is important too because I love this. Makes the pitch bigger because he really stretched the flanks. If you look at the movement, the positions he took up, I just thought exceptional. This is what we're talking about at centre-forward play. And I'm not going to lie, I did not think he had this level in his locker for Arsenal. I'm not going to lie. I didn't think he had it. And I feared for him because I wasn't seeing the type of dynamic movement I was hoping for a player of that quality, that strength. and actually there's been a conversation about his hesitation, hesitance to use his bulk at this level, I want to talk as well about Eberici Eze in the context of the physicality.

9:21Musa Okwonga: The thing I love about Eze in this role, and this is the role that Arteta I think signed him for, this aggressive 10, not a pressing 10, but someone who pushes the ball on, that looks for the early pass into space, that screens well is a bit more of a goal threat than Martin Odegaard. Just the variation, I think, in terms of what he gives you centrally. And just you look up and I think it's the calmness that he takes possession, the way he moves through gaps, winning free kicks in really smart areas. It was a very much, it reminded me of like these old school Serie A performances. He played like an old school, like Serie A number 10, like Rui Costa, letting the game come to him, but also looking on the front foot for the attack, spreading the play.

10:03Musa Okwonga: I just thought that it gave Atleti just too much that it was confusing for them, actually, I thought. I thought when they looked, they were looking ahead of them, they were like, we weren't expecting this configuration. We were expecting Martin Odegaard and Zimbermendi to come to the top of the box and weave these like pretty precise patterns. We weren't expecting this level of promptness and directness and the speed that Arsenal were getting back. Atleti were really hoping to catch them like they caught Barca. We saw Barca, right, of course, getting caught on the counter for Luckman's crucial goal.

10:34Musa Okwonga: I think Atleti thought they were going to get a ton of looks like that and they didn't get a single one their whole right to left switch move it over Lukman comes in as the executioner none of that happened they never got that once

10:46Ryan Hunn: so that was a clip of today's episode of Stadio if you want to listen to this episode and every episode of Stadio ad free in full you can go to patreon.com forward slash Stadio and sign up as a podcast or Stadio Social Club member

11:04Thank you.