The closing stages at the Emirates were filled with high drama and frustration. Arsenal effectively shut down the game, and referee Daniel Siebert struggled to prevent the English side from stretching every second to the limit. The team’s efforts extended beyond the pitch: balls were delayed, players sent the ball into the stands, but what stood out most was Mikel Arteta’s hyperactive role in muddying the final minutes.
Arsenal’s manager was seen closely monitoring every detail—each ball that rolled out of play. He constantly stepped outside his technical area, visibly anxious from the pressure of the moment. At one point, he even hurried after a stray ball, as if trying to control when the ball would be handed back to the opposition. In his eagerness to give instructions, he positioned himself in front of an Atletico player about to take a throw-in, earning a yellow card.
Arteta was outside his designated area while the ball was still in play. He didn’t want to miss anything with his team on the verge of reaching only their second Champions League final. But his sideline behavior infuriated the Atletico bench.
Diego Pablo Simeone, himself cautioned, was seen arguing with Andrea Berta, Arsenal’s sporting director and a former Atletico employee, over the hosts’ time-wasting tactics.
The German official failed to curb Arsenal’s cooling-down strategy. Naturally, with the score in their favor, Arsenal aimed to stop the game from flowing to secure their place in Budapest. Those nerve-racking moments were felt most intensely by Arteta—until he could finally breathe when Siebert blew the final whistle. Notably, the referee added five minutes of stoppage time, but the ball was barely in play during that period.