Antoine Griezmann punished Arsenal’s lax defence late on as 10-man Atletico Madrid’s rearguard action salvaged a draw from the Europa League semi-final first leg at the Emirates.
The visitors were on the back foot for almost the entire game after defender Sime Vrsaljko was dismissed for two yellow cards in the first 10 minutes.
With Atletico’s furious manager Diego Simeone sent to the stands shortly afterwards, the Spanish side survived unscathed to half-time with Alexandre Lacazette clipping the post with a half-volley in the hosts’ best chance.
Lacazette nodded in Jack Wilshere’s cross just after the hour to apparently edge the Gunners closer to a Europa League final send-off for outgoing manager Arsene Wenger.
But with eight minutes remaining Griezmann latched onto a long ball forward, shrugged off Laurent Koscielny and stabbed into the net at the second attempt to swing the tie Atletico’s way.
Arsenal’s fans were left ruing a familiar combination of wasteful finishing and costly lapses in concentration as the teams departed to a muted response in Wenger’s final home European game.
Their team now must breach an Atletico Madrid defence that has conceded just four times at home in La Liga this season to have any hope of extending Wenger’s 22-season spell in charge to the final on 16 May.
In contrast to Arsenal, Atletico Madrid’s defensive discipline has served them well in recent continental campaigns, grinding out victory in four of their five European semi-finals over the past nine seasons.
But the Spaniards’ usual pragmatism deserted them as they self-combusted in the opening 13 minutes.
Croatian right-back Vrsaljko was booked as he caught Jack Wilshere late in the second minute and, instead of showing the requisite caution, blundered into Lacazette with his studs up eight minutes later.
So early in the contest, Atletico may have expected referee Clement Turpin to limit punishment to a stern and final warning.
But the 35-year-old Frenchman judged the challenge rather than the occasion and showed Vrsaljko a justified second yellow.
Simeone was exasperated by that decision and incensed by Turpin opting not to book Hector Bellerin shortly after. The Argentine was dispatched to the stands after aiming a stream of invective at the official.
Meanwhile, Dimitri Payet set up both goals as Marseille beat Austria’s RB Salzburg 2-0 in the first leg of their Europa League semi-final at Stade Velodrome.
The Ligue 1 side have won eight of their nine games at home in this season’s competition.
Florian Thauvin headed their opener from ex-West Ham forward Payet’s free-kick and Cameron winger Clinton Njie doubled the lead from a Payet pass.
Fredrik Gulbrandsen hit the post for the Austrian Bundesliga leaders.
