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Atletico bus hit by objects, Diego Simeone heckled in bust-up, Arsenal cheekily waste time

Atletico’s bus hit by objects, Diego Simeone heckled and in a bust-up, Arsenal cheekily waste time, plenty went on at the Emirates on Tuesday.

Bukayo Saka’s 44th minute goal, saw the Gunners hold on to reach first Champions League final in 20 years, beating the La Liga side 2-1 on aggregate.

The last time Arsenal got to the final was in 2006, which ended in defeat to Barcelona. But this time around, they will play either Bayern Munich or PSG on the 30th of May in Budapest for the chance to win the trophy for the first time.

Before the game, Arsenal gave Atletico a hostile welcome, a number of different items throw as the team coach pulled into the stadium.

The atmosphere was bouncing pre-match, Arsenal fans in good spirits, and even more so just before half time when their side went ahead.

Then the party continued into the night, celebrations at full time, even Gunners boss Mikel Arteta was seen dancing with a smile on his face.

Many clips went viral, ‘sh*thousery’, time-wasting, Diego Simeone in a heated touchline confrontation with Andrea Berta, Arsenal fans saying goodbye to Simeone after he stepped on Arsenal’s badge on his way down the tunnel.

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Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta said on Amazon Prime, as per BBC Sport’s live blog: “It’s an amazing night to live this kind of moment with the players and everyone at the club, it’s an incredible feeling. It makes sense with all of the things we do and we go through and I see so many happy faces and proud of what we’re doing.

“It was unbelievable right from the beginning – the supporters waiting for us outside the stadium, the energy and passion that they put in so it was just great to win this.”

The supporters rose to the occasion? “Absolutely, they set the standards and we’ve tried to catch up with them. We struggled so many years to give that joy back and the pride in their eyes was beautiful to watch.”

On what impressed him most: “The togetherness. It was very difficult to make certain decisions and I feel a lot for the boys. I know generally how good people they are and some of them, I talked to them this afternoon and apologised and said ‘I’m going to play the same team’ and the reaction immediately was ‘boss, I’m here when you need me’ and they gave me a hug.”

On Bukayo Saka’s match-winning goal: “It had to be someone very special and certainly he is very special with me and the boys and everyone attached with this club. If it had to be someone scoring that goal, it probably had to be him.”

Speaking to Amazon Prime on the turnaround since their Carabao Cup defeat to Man City: “In elite sport, and football in particular, you have to be at it and you never know what the next moment will bring.”

On what’s changed since then: “We’re constantly trying to improve and work on ourselves and I’m very critical on myself as well and when certain players start being involved and available, it makes a big difference.”

On Viktor Gyokeres’ performance: “He was immense. You can see the reaction from the crowd every time he had the ball, his work rate and what he’s giving the team is just incredible.”

On the defence: “It’s immense. You talk about Gyokeres and he’s the first one to set the tone, the rhythm, and the habits that he shows when we don’t have it [the ball] and that’s a team effort.”

They say attack wins matches but defence wins titles: “Let’s go for it then.”

Arsenal’s Declan Rice, said on Amazon Prime: “It is chaos [in the dressing room]. I don’t think you can underestimate what we have done in this competition up to this point. I think we have every right to celebrate that moment. The most prestigious competition in club football. We are just trying to soak it all in.

“We knew coming into the game what was at stake. If you can’t get up for that, then you can’t get up for any game of football. When we went 1-0 up, I knew we were going to win. I could feel something special building.”

 Rice on Myles Lewis-Skelly: “We have always known what Myles can do. I remember last year when he played so many games. Last year when he stepped up Real Madrid away at the Bernabeu at 18 – I thought: ‘Wow what a player.’ The manager has been tough on him behind the scenes. He has kept his head down and he has worked so hard. He is in early, gym and works hard. To be thrown in at the deep end and perform how he did is no surprise to me.”

On Arsenal’s progression: “Where this club has come from over the last few years – things that hurt you as a player. The manager has taken full control. We have kept building – we have kept pushing each other. This competition and the Premier League. We have gone full throttle. We have found ourselves in a good position with less than a month to go. Sunday now is a massive one.”

Rice continued: “We have kind of turned a corner again. We went through a stage where we weren’t performing at our best. We were a bit sloppy in our play, but we have found a new way to play again.

“When you have got confidence in football it is everything. I know everyone is focused.”

On facing boyhood club West Ham on Sunday: “Without West Ham there is no me. They gave me a chance when Chelsea didn’t. Not nice to see the position they are in. It is football and I have a job to do on Sunday. It is the business end of the season.”

@arsenaltunnelcam #Simeone #Arteta ngl Simeone kills me #ChampionsLeague ♬ original sound – arsenaltunnelcam

Atletico Madrid boss Diego Simeone speaking to Uefa: “Well if we got knocked out it’s because our opponents deserved to get through, they took their big chance in the first-half and they deserved to get through. I feel calm, I feel peaceful.

“We weren’t clinical enough with the situations we were in. We improved in the second-half. There were things that could’ve gone our way but they didn’t. We gave it our all and now we have to accept the place that we are in. Thanks to our supporters and players I feel proud to be where we are right now. I said we wanted to compete and we have done that. Unfortunately we haven’t won anything but we have got to places that are hard to get to.”

On the referee decisions: “I’m not going to get into that. We all know it was a foul. We all thought that the referee had got it right. I’m not going to get involved in that because I don’t want to make excuses.”

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