Soccer
Atletico Madrid and Arsenal remain finely poised in their Champions League semi-final, after a 1-1 draw in the first leg, which was a tale of three penalties.
Viktor Gyokeres and Julian Alvarez both scored from the spot on either side of half-time, but an overturned penalty decision denied Arsenal a potential winner to take back to the Emirates next week.
Julian Alvarez and Noni Madueke both saw brilliant openings go to waste early on, but Arsenal took the one given to them on the stroke of half-time.
Viktor Gyokeres was clumsily bundled to the ground by David Hancko in the box, and the Swede got back to his feet to fire his penalty past Jan Oblak, who dived the right way.
Atletico came out on the front foot after the break, with Alvarez flashing a free-kick wide before Ben White was penalised for a handball in the box following a VAR review.
Alvarez’s 56th-minute spot-kick was emphatic, and David Raya was static on his line as he watched the ball fly into the top-left corner of his net.
Antoine Griezmann, playing his final Champions League match at the Metropolitano, then hit the corner of the goal frame with a clever chipped shot, with Raya called into action from the following corner to deny Alvarez.
Ademola Lookman saw a late chance smothered by Raya, before Arsenal thought they were being given the chance to win the first leg from 12 yards. However, after a trip to the monitor, the referee deemed Hancko’s contact on Eberechi Eze was minimal and overturned his on-field decision.
We battled toe-to-toe.
A chance to finish the job at home in N5 pic.twitter.com/RfD8mLQdhn
— Arsenal (@Arsenal) April 29, 2026
Data Debrief: On the spot
Atletico have never lost at home to an English side in the Champions League knockout-stage match (W3 D4), though they will feel they could have walked away with more.
They finished the match with 2.22 expected goals (xG) from 18 shots, to Arsenal’s 1.5 xG, with the Gunners only managing to get two of their 11 attempts on target.
Atleti have both scored and conceded a penalty in a Champions League match for the first time, while Arsenal have done so for the second time.
Alvarez’s spot-kick was his 25th goal in his 41st Champions League appearance. It is the fewest games taken to reach that goal tally by a South American in the competition, surpassing Lionel Messi, who took 42 matches.
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