Europa League Review: No fairytale final for Wenger and Marseille controversy

It was bust for Arsene Wenger and Arsenal, as they were eliminated from the Europa League in a 1-0 defeat to Atletico Madrid. They will be without Champions League football once again next season, as they failed to give their outgoing manager the romanticism of winning the trophy.

Arsenal struggled to create against the imperious Atletico defence. Alexandre Lacazette put a dangerous cross into the area in the first five minutes, which proved to be their best opportunity of the first half.

Wenger opted to use Danny Welbeck alongside Mesut Ozil once again in a 4-3-2-1 system, with Lacazette the sole striker. That meant Henrikh Mkhitaryan had to start on the bench.

“It is not the best moment to explain the team,” said the French coach before the match. “We need strikers tonight.”

However, Atletico Madrid’s narrow 4-4-2 formation and the fact that Diego Simeone was without his three first choice full-backs, did make the decision from Wenger not to play a wide man somewhat surprising. It was from crosses that they had the most success, although that didn’t materlise until later in the game.

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The Gunners were dealt a huge blow when Laurent Koscielny had to leave the field on a stretcher early-on, as the game was delayed for four minutes. Calum Chambers was given the task of replacing the French centre-back in the biggest game of the former Southampton defender’s career.

With half-hour gone, Thomas Partey struck an excellent volley at David Ospina, but referee Gianluca Rocchi pulled it back for a foul by Diego Godin as the corner was taken. Koke almost surprised Ospina when he hit one wide after a succession of headers from both sides in the Arsenal penalty box, then Antoine Griezmann’s twisted effort narrowly creeped past the post.

Diego Costa missed last week’s encounter at the Emirates, but he was back with a vengeance. He shrugged off Nacho Monreal with relative ease in the opening exchanges, although he couldn’t keep his shot down.

Griezmann slipped in Costa behind Hector Bellerin in stoppage time at the end of the first 45 minutes and the former Chelsea striker took his opportunity brilliantly to open the scoring. BT Sport pundit Martin Keown felt that the goal had come against the run of play and that “Arsenal had their chances,” although they hadn’t had a single effort aimed at Jan Oblak.

Aaron Ramsey managed to change that statistic just eight minutes after the break, when he couldn’t get a clear contact on the ball due to a number of bodies surrounding him. Arsenal started to become more of a threat and looked better in possession, but they had just one shot on target in the whole game.

Simeone was watching the game high up in the stands after his sending-off in London, with his assistant German Burgos orchestrating proceedings from the side lines. His side always looked dangerous on the counter attack with Griezmann and Costa linking well.

Atletico have lost just two matches at the Wanda Metropolitano this season and conceded only nine goals. Oblak hasn’t been beaten in the last 12 matches on home turf, with Girona’s attacking midfielder Portu the last player to score against the Slovenian in the ground.

Salzburg feel injustice

Marseille will face Atleti in the final at Lyon, but they certainly had to ride their luck to overcome an unfortunate Salzburg. It’s the 25^thanniversary since Marseille’s controversial Champions League triumph and it was under contentious circumstances that they went through.

There were few opportunities in the first half, as Marseille used their set-piece strength once again. Lucas Ocampos got onto the end of a free-kick from Dimitri Payet in the sixth minute, but the bounce deceived him.

It was a nervy start from Salzburg and although they began to press as a collective unit, they lacked finesse in the final third. Xaver Schlager and Fredrik Gulbrandsen were introduced into the first XI from the side which lost in France last week, which helped with the renewed energy in advanced areas.

They found it extremely difficult to exert their style upon the visitors, although the technical quality of Rudi Garcia’s men certainly contributed to that factor. Salzburg managed just three shots before the break, as Marseille were happy to contain and hold on to their first leg advantage.

However, Salzburg found their rhythm after the interval and shocked the away side. Amadou Haidara saw off four challenges before prodding past Yohann Pele to lift the crowd and give belief.

The 20-year-old box-to-box midfielder will surely attract the attention of Europe’s top sides in the next few years. Andre Ramlho hit a stunning 30-yard shot which stung the palms of Pele and all of a sudden there was a purpose and intensity from the Austrians.

Luiz Gustavo and Adil Rami got themselves into a mess and then a shot from Schlager was poked into his own goal by Bouna Sarr to draw the sides level on aggregate. Salzburg have not been beaten at the Red Bull Arena this season and it’s not hard to understand why.

Pele had to be alert to deny substitute Hwang Hee-Chan following an exquisite touch from Valon Berisha. The 25-year-old Liverpool transfer target had more influence as the game grew older.

Marseille regrouped and managed to take the encounter into extra time, but Salzburg continued to knock on the door. Munas Dabbur and Berisha had further scoring chances as they looked a completely different team from the first half.

Centre-back Duje Caleta-Car thought he had got the decider when his header from a Berisha corner was kept out by Pele once more. However, it was defender Rolando that grabbed the late goal to win the tie for Marseille.

It came off a corner from Payet, but it should have been a goal kick as Andre-Frank Zambo Anguissa’s blasted shot bounced off his own player Ocampos. Tensions naturally spilt over and Haidara was sent-off for a second yellow.

This is Marco Rose’s first season as a manager and the semi-final appearance was an outstanding achievement in itself given the resources at his disposal. It was Salzburg’s 20^thgame in the competition this season, but it’s Marseille that will contest the final in two weeks.