Bukayo Saka's redemption, Mikel Arteta's journey, and a historic season in sight for Arsenal after UEFA Champions League semi-final win

You know which one I mean.

Often accused of losing it or simply not having it, the Arsenal team showed they possessed it in surplus on Tuesday night.

Be it in the form of the manager’s bold decision to keep the same line-up from the weekend’s victory over Fulham, Myles Lewis-Skelly going toe-to-toe with the Atleti midfield, Bukayo Saka scoring another clutch goal to silence his critics, or Viktor Gyokeres playing like a runaway locomotive, there was a backbone to this Arsenal side that even the most hardened of detractors could not deny.

While there may have been tension felt in the stands, or those watching on TV, the players on the pitch looked assured and duly saw out the job with little fuss in the end.

Any doubts over mentality - or bottle - could simply not be raised on this night, one of the biggest and most important of the club’s current season and beyond.

Nobody will attempt to convince you with any sincerity that Bukayo Saka has had his best season in Arsenal colours.

The winger has seen his campaign interrupted by injury and has struggled to find the expected level of consistency when he has been in the side, but, having scored on his league return against Fulham, picked another perfect moment to remind people why he remains the Gunners’ star boy/man.

"It's so good to have Bukayo back," said David Raya afterwards. "We know how important it is for the team and for the fans to have him back, he's scored two big goals in the space of two games so it's a credit to him."

Reacting first and fastest to Leandro Trossard’s saved shot, Saka’s winning goal to send Arsenal to Budapest was a testament to his anticipation, reaction speed and burning desire to score for his side:

While his goal catalogue certainly contains far more aesthetically pleasing strikes than this close-range finish, the importance of this one could arguably make it the most memorable.  

Arsenal have never won Europe’s top prize, so Mikel Arteta and his team stand on the brink of history.

Sure, The Gunners have triumphed in Europe in the past, but there is certainly far more heartache and misery on the continent than glory for a club of their stature - particularly in recent times.

Arsenal have only ever reached the final of this competition once - back in 2006.

Nobody is more acutely aware of that than Arteta, who reiterated the point in his press conference about how special, and rare, it is for The Gunners to reach this stage of the tournament.

"We made history again together," he said in his post-match press conference. "I cannot be happier and prouder of everyone involved in this football club.

"The atmosphere that our supporters created, the energy, the way they lived every ball with us, it made it special and unique.

"We put everything in, the boys did an incredible job. After 20 years and for the second time in our history, we are back in the Champions League final."

In a few short weeks, the Arsenal boss and his players have the opportunity to rewrite the history books for good.  

It’s not just for Arsenal that getting the final is of huge significance, but also the manager himself.

Arteta’s first European adventure with Arsenal in 2020 ended the kind of ritual heartbreak the club had almost made part of their identity at the time, losing in extra time on away goals to Olympiacos in the UEFA Europa League.

Few who saw Youssef El Arabi’s late winner that night could have imagined that six years later, the club would be marching into a Champions League final.

For Arteta, the work has been hard, but the rewards and year-on-year improvements are just rewards for perseverance and patience.

"It's very tough and difficult, but again we've all been so aligned on the desire and ambition that we have for the club," he said of his time at the club navigating European competition.

"Then you have to be sometimes lucky, things have to go your way. We put obviously so much work, passion and belief into what we do, and today we got rewarded to have an incredible day in Budapest in a few weeks."

Just one more step remains to complete the most incredible turnaround of fortunes.

As the crowd erupted at full time, with players performing a lap of honour and fans bouncing in the stands to celebrate the achievement of reaching the final, there was, of course, the realisation there is a job - or jobs - that still need doing this season.

This was game No. 59 of a gruelling campaign for Arteta’s side, but still four more remain, with each one equally important.

The joy of reaching the Champions League final almost has to be parked immediately because in just a matter of days comes the resumption of the quest for domestic glory.

The Gunners face relegation-threatened West Ham United in their next assignment on Sunday, ahead of games against Burnley and Crystal Palace.

They know that the margin for error is minimal if they are to be crowned Premier League champions, so Budapest thoughts are jettisoned to the back of the mind, for now at least.

"Tomorrow we have to start to prepare for Sunday," Arteta admitted. "We have an incredible game now to play against West Ham, a really tough one and we're going to have four days to do that."

After an arduous campaign that has seen the team challenging on multiple fronts, consequently packing the fixture calendar, now just having a singular focus - and one match a week - will be a welcome change for Arteta and side’s ambitions.  

The chance to achieve something previously unthinkable is within touching distance.

"It's great, everybody can feel a shift in energy, in belief, in everything," the manager concluded.

"Let's use it in the right way, understanding the margins and the difficulty of what we are trying to achieve. It's huge but we have the ability and the conviction to do that for sure."

Add TNT Sports as a preferred source here to enjoy more content like this.

Stream the Premier League, men’s and women’s FA Cups, UEFA Champions League, UEFA Europa League, UEFA Conference League and more live on TNT Sports and HBO Max