Champions League winner Wesley Sneijder hit out at Arsenal’s UEFA Champions League semi-final victory over Atletico Madrid, saying UEFA should have “cancelled” the second leg before half-time due to the poor quality of football on display.
Arsenal secured a 1-0 win at the Emirates Stadium to book their place in the Champions League final with a 2-1 aggregate victory, but Sneijder was far from impressed by the competition. The former Inter Milan and Real Madrid midfielder claimed the game lacked the standard expected at Europe’s highest level.
Speaking to Ziggo Sport, Sneijder said UEFA should have intervened after just 35 minutes.
“After 35 minutes I said that UEFA has to intervene,” Sneijder said. “They need to call London: both teams are off the pitch and tomorrow is the final between Bayern Munich and Paris Saint-Germain. I knew it was going to happen, Atlético went back and gave away possession and Arsenal had a lot of control.”
Bukayo Saka scored the only goal of the game as Arsenal sealed their place in the final in Budapest. However, Sneijder said the match failed to rise to the occasion.
The Dutchman also questioned the quality of Arsenal’s squad and praised manager Mikel Arteta for taking the club so far in Europe.
“I looked at the players again and Arteta already deserves a statue,” added Sneijder. “He just doesn’t have any top players and with the current squad he is managing to push Atletico back which is impressive.
Arsenal remain unbeaten in the competition so far, conceding just six goals in 14 matches during their run to the final.
Meanwhile, Atletico boss Diego Simeone refused to blame the officials for his side’s exit despite a controversial penalty during the match.
“If we were sent off, it’s because our opponent deserved to advance. They were clinical in the first half and they deserved their place. But what I feel is calmness, peace. The team gave everything they had,” said Simeone.
“We came to compete against an incredibly strong team and with our own strength we fought as hard as we could. I’m grateful to our fans, our players and I’m proud to be where I am. During the pre-season at the stadium I said we would compete and we did. Unfortunately we didn’t win anything, that’s true, but we got to places that are not easy to reach.”
– The end
Issued by:
Saurabh Kumar
Published on:
06 May 2026 15:29 IST
