The crazy thing was that Atlético Madrid were well in this Champions League match until the 57th minute. Diego Simeone’s team had defended robustly. They had just hit the crossbar through Julián Alvarez. But then they were not, and it was the speed and brutality with which Arsenal moved the game away from them that took the breath.
There were more set-piece goals, inevitably – for the breakthrough and No 4. It was Declan Rice to Gabriel Magalhães and then a repeat of the link‑up, the only difference being that Gabriel headed square for Viktor Gyökeres to bundle over the line rather than scoring himself. It feels as though nobody can contain Gabriel when he begins his runs and Rice delivers.
