Mikel Arteta might have been speaking about his Arsenal team. “The level of organisation is really high,” he said. “It is about how they compete and after how they play.”
It was actually an ode to Atletico Madrid. There will be a 90-minute opportunity to compare them tonight. There is a broader similarity. There are managers who have brought longevity and stability, returning to their former clubs when they were at a low ebb and effecting a transformation. Diego Simeone is a former Atletico player, Arteta an ex-Arsenal captain and each, arguably, owed his appointment in part to that status.
