Atlético de Madrid’s increasingly farcical search for a maiden away win in 2025/26 takes the team now to North London, where Premier League leaders Arsenal await in one of the most-intriguing matchups over this Champions League round.
Atlético returned from the international break with a slim (but deserved) 1-0 home win over Osasuna on Saturday, as Thiago Almada’s second-half goal sealed a victory that took Los Colchoneros into LaLiga’s top four. And Atleti will move into the top eight of the Champions
League’s league phase with a statement win on Tuesday night.
Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal reached last season’s Champions League semifinals — and after hiring former Atlético sporting director Andrea Berta, Arteta’s squad has been reinforced with eight new signings. Among them are forward Viktor Gyökeres, center-back Cristhian Mosquera, and midfielder Martin Zubimendi — all of whom were linked to Atleti during Berta’s stint at the club.
As part of the £250 million summer spending spree, Berta also brought in defender Piero Hincapié (on loan with an option to buy), midfielder Eberechi Eze, and winger Noni Madueke. The results so far are pretty good: Arsenal have yet to concede in this season’s Champions League and lead the Premier League by three points over Manchester City.
This will mark Atlético’s first meeting with Arsenal since a Europa League semifinal tie in 2018. Atlético advanced to that season’s final with a 2-1 aggregate victory after Antoine Griezmann equalized late in the first leg (in which Atleti played with 10 men for 80 minutes) and Diego Costa scored the only goal in the second leg.
Team news
Only Johnny Cardoso is unavailable for Tuesday night’s game, as the American midfielder has yet to overcome his troublesome ankle injury. Nico Gonzalez sparked fears of a head injury when he left Saturday’s game late in the first half, but he has been cleared and is expected to play some part on Tuesday.
Against Osasuna, Simeone deployed a fluid 3-5-2 shape upon Josema Giménez’s return to the lineup; I think El Cholo will stick to that idea at Emirates Stadium, which could see him roll out a similar starting 11 relative to Saturday. Clément Lenglet is back from his suspension, but I see no place for him against a side that weaponizes set pieces like few others in Europe.
Marcos Llorente’s position is a bit of an unknown. The Spain international has played center-back, right-back, and right-midfielder already this season; he was brilliant on Saturday, covering the entire flank in a man-of-the-match performance that saw him complete a game-high 62 passes, make seven recoveries, win all five of his ground duels, and create two chances to boot.
If both start, Almada and Álex Baena will be the closest players to Alvarez; I could see Griezmann keeping his place, though. The Frenchman has looked sharp in his recent outings following a dreadful start to the season, and Simeone always has valued experience in these fixtures.
Predicted 11 Oblak; Le Normand, Giménez, Hancko; Nico, Llorente, Koke, Barrios, Almada; Baena, Alvarez.
