The usual basic intensity, but no goals in the first 45 minutes. At the Gewiss Stadium a complicated match ends, the usual chess game with Atalanta holding out and Arsenal, deprived of their usual ball possession, struggling in the last sixteen meters. The first half ended with little excitement and a couple of flashes, insufficient to unlock a score stuck at 0-0.
The lively match that was expected on the eve lived up to all the predictions. More than the pace, it was the intensity that marked the first quarter of an hour in a completely full Gewiss Stadium: Arsenal scared the Goddess with a poisonous free kick from Saka, Carnesecchi responded present first on the number 7 of the Londoners, then on the close-range rebound from Thomas Partey.
The pace and intensity accompanied the first half, but the opportunities were lacking: the first Nerazzurri chance came in the 16th minute with Hien’s header that ended wide, and after half an hour De Ketelaere, with a left-footed curling shot, failed to capitalise on Retegui’s pass.