Arsenal show they belong amongst Europe's elite

About this episode

The episode discusses Arsenal's strong performance in a Champions League semi-final against Atletico Madrid, reflecting on various aspects of the match and the team's status in European football.

Art de Roché and Adrian Clarke join Ian Stone to discuss Arsenal’s 1-1 draw away to Atletico Madrid in the semi-final first leg of the Champions League on Wednesday. The panel reflect on the strong away performance, the togetherness of the squad, Arsenal feeling like they are apart of the European establishment, an outstanding display from Rice in a deeper role, the controversial decisions around the penalties and player fatigue in comparison to their European counterparts.  Plus, they respond to listener messages, discuss the rescheduling of final home game against Burnley, look ahead to the match against Fulham at the Emirates on Saturday and we hear from Terry in Islington in this week’s instalment of ‘Up Your Arsenal’.  If you like the panel’s song choices, check out the ‘Now that’s what I call Handbrake’ playlist on both Spotify and Apple Music and listen to them all there:  Spotify: https://open.spotify.com/playlist/6cgJk1eJwQBmiUJlSFZMJN?si=pMHHbBb8S8Ky5LtlKp7pHw&pi=Rra8NSxDRVm58&nd=1&dlsi=62f2d7c1c10045ac Apple Music: https://music.apple.com/gb/playlist/now-thats-what-i-call-handbrake/pl.u-d2b00jZuDxWk6P Producer: Robby Williams Hosted on Acast…

People in this episode

Host: Ian Stone

Guests: Art de Roché, Adrian Clarke

Topics covered

• Arsenal performance
• Champions League
• player fatigue
• penalty decisions
• listener interaction
• upcoming matches

Keywords

• Arsenal
• Atletico Madrid
• Champions League
• Rice
• penalties
• player fatigue
• listener messages
• Burnley
• Fulham
• football

Mentioned in this episode

Organizations: Arsenal, Atletico Madrid

Books & works: Now that’s what I call Handbrake

Places: Islington, Emirates

More episodes of Handbrake Off: The Athletic FC's Arsenal show

• Arsenal at the World Cup + what's happening with Jeremy Monga? · June 8, 2026 · 47 min
• Squad Audit: Where do Arsenal improve this summer? · June 4, 2026 · 47 min
• We'll be back · June 1, 2026 · 58 min
• All eyes on Budapest · May 28, 2026 · 53 min
• We are unbearable · May 25, 2026 · 57 min
• End of Season Awards: Champions Edition · May 22, 2026 · 1h 4m