Mikel Arteta and Bukayo Saka are now one game away from Arsenal immortality | OneFootball

The pair have been in step which each other since the start, lifting each other up along the way

For about ten adrenaline-fuelled minutes in the midst of the Arsenal madness, Mikel Arteta let loose.

The Spaniard is normally obsessive in his pursuit of control. He goes through the same routine before every match, from his shower, to his food, to his clothes.

His Arsenal team, built very much from the back, are an embodiment of that.

On Tuesday night, though, all bets were off. A place in the Champions League final had been secured with a 2-1 aggregate win over Atletico Madrid.

Having jogged over to shake hands with Diego Simeone, Arteta raced between embraces with every player and member of his backroom team. Both legs were wrapped around David Raya as he launched himself at the goalkeeper.

Arteta called everyone over to the Clock End to take in a post-match rendition of 'The Angel' and then led the charge the length of the pitch to the North Bank.

Leandro Trossard was grabbed and Arteta began dancing, moving with such carefree abandon it was like he had just discovered he had legs.

Mikel Arteta led the celebrations

Getty

Soon calm was restored. Arteta sat down for his post-match press conference and spoke of the need to reset ahead of a "really tough" trip to West Ham.

That match, and the chance to take a massive step towards sealing the Premier League title, will be given due attention. However, Arteta's manic celebrations gave an insight into just how much this meant.

Arsenal are through to a Champions League final for just the second time in their history. The club Arteta took charge of in December 2019 is unrecognisable to the one he will lead in Budapest later this month.

"A few years ago, when just to play Champions League was a miracle because we had seven years without Champions League," Arteta said on Tuesday night. "Now we are in a final.

"Sometimes it is difficult to find the reason why we do what we do and this job. Certainly nights like tonight explain it and give you the right reasons to continue."

It came via a performance that represented everything that Arsenal are under Arteta.

The Spaniard called for his players to approach the match like "beasts" and they worked harder than even that. Gabriel threw himself in the way of everything, Declan Rice galloped across every inch of grass, and Viktor Gyokeres was a relentless battering ram.

Arsenal defended incredibly considering the pressure of the situation and they were streetwise, too.

In stoppage-time, Gabriel Martinelli lobbed the ball into the crowd to delay an Atletico throw-in. When it came back, Kepa Arrizabalaga booted it onto the pitch to further delay proceedings.

This, in many ways, felt like the peak Atletico teams under Simeone in their bloody-mindedness.

Arteta has transformed every aspect of the club. The squad was gutted, standards were reset, and the relationship with the fans were rebuilt.

On that latter point, Arteta said it was now "box ticked". Those scenes outside the Emirates Stadium when the team coaches arrived were extraordinary and the noise inside during the match was as hostile and as raucous as Arteta has demanded.

"That's a must and we've got it. Now we have to maintain it," he said.

This was not quite the culmination of everything that Arteta had built. That could come in Budapest on May 30.

It was, though, the embodiment of what he has created and Bukayo Saka was therefore a fitting match-winner.

Bukayo Saka celebrates scoring the only goal

Getty

Saka started at left-back in Arteta's very first match as Arsenal boss, a 1-1 draw with Bournemouth in 2019.

He has been with Arteta on every step of this journey. Saka was only 19 when he took to Twitter in December 2020 and posted: "You deserve more Arsenal fans".

Arsenal had just drawn 1-1 with Southampton to remain 15th in the table. It was the club's worst start to a top-flight campaign in 46 years.

The hierarchy kept the faith in Arteta and Saka was a significant reason for that. He was the club's player of the season that year and the following campaign too.

Saka holds the club record for playing a remarkable 87 consecutive Premier League appearances during that period, helping to drag Arsenal out of their slumber.

From being out of Europe, to the Europa League, to Champions League quarter-finalists, semi-finals, and now finalists.

Saka was once the bright hope in a dysfunctional team and he is now the difference-maker in an elite one.

"It's a beautiful story and I hope it ends well in Budapest," Saka said.

An Achilles injury has hampered his season. Arteta stated last weekend that Saka was now pain-free, but Thierry Henry suggested otherwise after the Atletico win.

"We know Bukayo wasn't too fit," Henry said. "Today he had to play [after] barely training. I know he's suffering with his Achilles tendon.

“I spoke to him and he said 'I've got to be on the pitch against Fulham - it's do or die'.

Mikel Arteta and Bukayo Saka celebrate at the full-time whistle

Getty

Saka scored and assisted in that match, Arsenal's best attacking display against months, and turned a rebound into the net for what proved to be the winner over Atletico.

"It had to be someone very special and certainly he is very special with me and everyone attached with this club," Arteta said.

"If it had to be someone scoring that goal, it probably had to be him."

Saka is the star of this club. He was given the bumper new contract in January to prove it, a four-year deal that made him Arsenal's best-paid player.

When he returned to the starting line-up last Saturday, Arsenal's season was faltering. In one appearance of 45 minutes and another of just under an hour, Saka has helped flip the mood.

It is not just him. Ben White rolled back the years with his best performance of the season against Atletico. Myles Lewis-Skelly justified his inclusion in the side with another starring performance in midfield. All of Arteta's big calls paid off.

Saka was not as unplayable as he was against Fulham, with Atletico doubling up on him every time. Simeone was also there in almost a left-wing back position as he edged onto the pitch in frantic gesticulation.

Despite that close attention, Saka delivered the decisive moment, as he has done for season after season under Arteta. The pair have lifted each other up to become two of the best in their respective fields.

Saka once said the Arsenal supporters deserve more and he is now on the verge of delivering it for them. That might even be worth 20 minutes of Arteta's time.