UEFA EUROPA LEAGUE - 2017/18 SEASON MATCH PRESS KITS (First leg: 1-1) Estadio Metropolitano - Madrid Thursday 3 May 2018 Club Atlético de Madrid 21.05CET (21.05 local time) Arsenal FC Semi-finals, Second leg Last updated 02/05/2018 03:14CET Match background 2 Legend 5 1 Club Atlético de Madrid - Arsenal FC Thursday 3 May 2018 - 21.05CET (21.05 local time) Match press kit Estadio Metropolitano, Madrid Match background Atlético Madrid and Arsenal reconvene for the second leg of their semi-final at the Estadio Metropolitano following a first-leg 1-1 draw in London – a match in which the Spanish visitors were reduced to ten men after just ten minutes but managed to snatch a late equaliser that strengthens their bid to reach a third UEFA Europa League final. Although unbeaten on their 2018 travels in Europe, the Gunners have lost seven out of eight domestic away fixtures this year, including six straight Premier League defeats. • If Arsenal are to bring the curtain down on manager Arsène Wenger's swansong season at the final in Lyon, they must become the first visiting team to score at Atlético's new stadium since January – a run of 11 matches in all competitions. • Both Arsenal and Atlético survived second-leg scares in the quarter-finals, the Gunners eventually prevailing 6-3 on aggregate against CSKA Moskva (4-1 home, 2-2 away after trailing 0-2) and Los Colchoneros edging Iberian rivals Sporting CP 2-1 over the two legs (2-0 home, 0-1 away). • Having crossed over to the UEFA Europa League after finishing third in their UEFA Champions League group, Atlético made light work of both Danish champions FC København in the round of 32 and Russian league leaders Lokomotiv Moskva in the round of 16, winning all four matches. • Arsenal, the lone English representatives in the UEFA Europa League knockout phase, won four of their six autumn encounters to top Group H before knocking out European debutants Östersund in the round of 32 then winning both legs against AC Milan – 2-0 in Italy and 3-1 in London. Previous meetings • Arsenal dominated the first leg following Atlético full-back Šime Vrsaljko's early dismissal for a second yellow card. However, it was not until just after the hour that Alexandre Lacazette headed Wenger's team in front. Further Gunners attacks were quelled by a characteristically obdurate Atlético defence, and on 82 minutes Antoine Griezmann levelled against the run of play. • Arsenal and Atlético had never met in UEFA competition prior to the first leg, though the Gunners did beat their Spanish opponents 2-1 at home in the 2009 pre-season Emirates Cup. • Atlético's record in 28 matches against English clubs is W10 D12 L6, and they have been victorious in seven of their nine two-legged knockout contests, including each of the last three; only Derby County (1974/75 UEFA Cup) and Bolton Wanderers (2007/08 UEFA Cup) have eliminated them. At home they have lost just once in 12 visits from English clubs – 1-2 against Chelsea in this season's UEFA Champions League group stage in what was their first European game in the Estadio Metropolitano. • The Gunners have won only ten of their 32 UEFA competition matches against teams from Spain, losing 14. On Spanish soil their record is W2 D3 L9, with no wins coming in their last seven visits (D2 L5) since a 1-0 victory at Real Madrid in the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League round of 16. • Arsenal have also lost on neutral terrain against Spanish clubs in three out of three European finals – the 1979/80 European Cup Winners' Cup to Valencia in Brussels (on penalties after a 0-0 draw), the 1994/95 European Cup Winners' Cup to Real Zaragoza in Paris (1-2 aet) and the 2005/06 UEFA Champions League to Barcelona in Saint- Denis (1-2). • The London club have won five of their nine two-legged UEFA ties with Liga opposition but have lost each of the last three – all to Barcelona in the UEFA Champions League. Their one previous semi-final against Spanish opponents did end in success, a 1-0 aggregate win over Villarreal in 2005/06 (1-0 home, 0-0 away) taking them into their first – and as yet only – European Cup/UEFA Champions League final. Form guide • Atlético have won 15 of their last 16 home fixtures in the UEFA Europa League, qualifying included, and have yet to concede in their three wins out of three at the Estadio Metropolitano. • Los Rojiblancos have won four of their six European matches in their new stadium, losing that first game to Chelsea – the only defeat in their last 17 European home games (W13 D3). • Atlético have lost only once at home in 12 UEFA Europa League knockout phase encounters – 0-2 to Rubin Kazan in 2012/13. They went eight games undefeated at former home the Vicente Calderón during the competition's knockout rounds (W5 D3) en route to lifting the trophy in 2009/10 and 2011/12. • UEFA Europa League victors in 2010 and 2012, Atlético are making their first appearance in the competition in five years. Since then Diego Simeone's side have appeared in two UEFA Champions League finals and reached the quarter-finals and semi-finals in two other seasons. 2 Club Atlético de Madrid - Arsenal FC Thursday 3 May 2018 - 21.05CET (21.05 local time) Match press kit Estadio Metropolitano, Madrid • Successful in both of their previous UEFA Europa League semi-finals, against Liverpool in 2009/10 and Valencia in 2011/12 (4-2 home, 1-0 away), Atlético's overall record in 14 UEFA competition semi-final ties is W8 L6. They had won four in a row before going down to city rivals Real Madrid in last season's UEFA Champions League (0-3 away, 2-1 home). • Atlético have won ten of their home legs in UEFA semi-finals, losing three. They are unbeaten in the last five (W4 D1). • Atlético finished third in the Spanish Liga last season, and this is only the second time in eight attempts that they have failed to progress beyond the group stage of the UEFA Champions League. However, on the only other occasion, in 2009/10, they went on to win the UEFA Europa League. • The Gunners have won six of their last eight away fixtures in the UEFA Cup and UEFA Europa League, including four out of six in 2017/18, the only defeat coming at Köln (0-1) in this season's group stage. The 2-2 draw at CSKA Moskva in the quarter-finals ended a run of four successive away victories in the UEFA Cup/UEFA Europa League knockout phase. • Arsenal have prolonged their European campaign into the spring for the 19th successive year – all under Wenger's management. • Arsenal are making their UEFA Europa League debut this season. Their last European campaign outside the UEFA Champions League was the 1999/2000 UEFA Cup, which ended with a penalty shoot-out defeat in the final against Galatasaray. They overcame French side Lens in that season's semi-final, winning 1-0 at home and 2-1 away. • The Gunners' record in six UEFA competition semi-final ties is W5 L1, prevailing in each of the first five – against Juventus (1979/80, 1-1 home, 1-0 away), Paris Saint-Germain (1993/94, 1-1 away, 1-0 home) and Sampdoria (1994/95, 3-2 home, 2-3 away, won on penalties) in the European Cup Winners' Cup, then Lens and Villarreal – before Manchester United ousted them in the last four of the 2008/09 UEFA Champions League (0-1 away, 1-3 home). They have therefore never lost a semi-final to foreign opposition. • Arsenal's away record in UEFA semi-finals is W2 D2 L2 F6 A6. • Atlético have won 11 of the 13 UEFA competition ties in which they drew the first leg away from home, losing only to Derby in the 1974/75 UEFA Cup second round (2-2 away, 2-2 home, 6-7 on penalties) and Ajax in the 1996/97 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals (1-1 away, 2-3 home) • The Spanish side's aggregate record when drawing the first leg away 1-1 is W7 L1, with that tie against Ajax their only defeat. In all seven of those aggregate victories they have won the second leg at home, four of them with clean sheets including the most recent, when Simeone' team beat Barcelona 1-0 in Madrid in the 2013/14 UEFA Champions League quarter-finals with an early goal from Koke. • Arsenal's record in two-legged UEFA competition ties when they have drawn the first leg at home is W3 L3, although they have lost the last two such ties. When the scoreline has been 1-1, they have won two out of three, the victories coming against Juventus in that 1979/80 European Cup Winners' Cup semi-final and Auxerre in the quarter-final of the same competition 15 years later, both 1-0 in the second leg. The defeat was brought about by a 2-4 second-leg loss away to Liverpool in the quarter-finals of the 2007/08 UEFA Champions League. • On the only occasion that Arsenal have drawn the first leg at home to Spanish opposition, 2-2 against Barcelona in the 2009/10 UEFA Champions League quarter-final, Wenger's team were eliminated after a 4-1 defeat in the return, Lionel Messi scoring all four goals after the Gunners had taken the lead in the Camp Nou.