Arsenal eliminated Atletico Madrid from the UEFA Champions League semi-finals on May 5, 2026, beating them 1-0 at Arsenal Stadium to book a place in the final in Budapest.
Diego Simeone, whose team exited at the semi-final stage, opened his post-match remarks with: "There's nothing to say, we're out." He added, "We congratulate Arsenal, they competed well, and they have a team and a coach that I like," and later: "If we got knocked out it’s because our opponent deserved to go through."
The decisive moment came in a sequence of incidents that left Atletico feeling aggrieved. Referee Daniel Siebert did not award Atletico a penalty when Gabriel brought Giuliano Simeone down in the box, and later did not award a penalty when Riccardo Calafiori stamped on Antoine Griezmann; the assistant referee had flagged for offside on the Calafiori action, so the potential foul was not reviewed as a penalty. Moments later Bukayo Saka scored the only goal of the game.
Giuliano Simeone posted two screenshots on Instagram after the match focusing on Riccardo Calafiori and highlighted a moment where he was shoved to the ground inside the penalty box by Calafiori; Atletico missed a clear chance to equalise when Giuliano rounded David Raya and saw his effort bobble wide. A VAR review also ruled that Marc Pubill had committed a foul earlier in the build-up to the Griezmann incident.
The tension inside and outside the stadium spilled over. Andrea Berta, Arsenal sporting director and a former Atletico official, was involved in a touchline clash with Diego Simeone during the match, and Arsenal supporters in blocks 31-33 chanted at Simeone as the game unfolded. Simeone, while pointing to the Griezmann moment as a foul — saying "I won’t focus on something simple like the Griezmann incident. It’s obvious, it was a foul. The referee said there was a foul by Marc [Pubill] on one of their players," — also said: "I won’t focus on that. It would be an excuse, and I don’t want to make excuses."
After the final whistle Simeone struck a conciliatory tone about his opponents: "They were clinical in the first half and earned their place." He balanced that with a personal calm. "If you ask me how I feel, I feel calm," he said, and later: "But what I feel is tranquillity, peace; the team gave everything they had."
Not everyone in Atletico's orbit accepted that line. Madrid mayor Jose Luis Martinez-Almeida, a visible Atletico supporter, used a post-match press conference to level sweeping accusations at European football’s governing body, saying: "We Atletico fans are proud of our team because they competed not against Arsenal, but against UEFA," and adding, "You can beat Arsenal over 180 minutes, but you can’t beat UEFA." He accused the organisation of bias: "UEFA set its entire machinery in motion to prevent Atletico from advancing in that match, and the referee was the one who carried out that plan," and insisted "There was intent. We couldn’t beat UEFA, and it was impossible to beat them." He said it was "incomprehensible" that a German referee was appointed given tensions over the fifth Champions League spot.
UEFA declined to comment after being approached. On the pitch, Arsenal’s victory confirmed their place in the final in Budapest — their first Champions League final since 2006 — while the fallout over officiating, social-media posts and touchline confrontations ensured Atletico’s elimination will be discussed as loudly as Arsenal’s progress.
What remains is a clear split: Simeone’s public composure and congratulations sit beside persistent claims of injustice from the club’s mayor and players. That fracture, not the scoreline, may be Atletico’s longest-running result from this tie.
