Arsenal have reached their first Champions League final in 20 years after defeating Atletico Madrid 2-1 on aggregate.

Bukayo Saka‘s first-half goal was the difference in the second leg after the teams drew 1-1 in Madrid last week.

In the second period, Atletico were denied a penalty for a challenge on Antoine Griezmann, while Viktor Gyokeres missed a glorious opportunity to put the home side further ahead.

Arsenal will face either Bayern Munich or PSG in the Champions League final in Budapest on Saturday, May 30.

On an increasingly frenzied night, when the ghosts of previous near misses under Mikel Arteta provided a part of the story, they made surely the boldest advance so far under their manager. It is the prospect of what comes next in the final against Paris Saint-Germain or Bayern Munich that tantalises. It was a night when Arteta struggled to keep a lid on his emotions. Ditto his Atlético Madrid counterpart, Diego Simeone. But it only made the final whistle sound more beautiful for everybody with Arsenal in their hearts.

Arsenal deserved to progress. They were the better team in the first half and they did enough after the interval, two certainties seeing them through. Their bolted door defence. And Bukayo Saka. It was the winger who scored the decisive goal at the end of the first half – a close-range finish after the Atlético goalkeeper, Jan Oblak, coughed up a Leandro Trossard shot. Arsenal are into only their second final; the first since 2006. They will believe in themselves to spring the upset in Budapest on 30 May.

The occasion had been framed from an Arsenal point of view by the sense of possibility, partly because of what happened on Monday night at Everton where Manchester City could only draw. Arsenal can almost touch the Premier League title. This was something else, a shot at the ultimate club final and the idea had been to harness the good vibes from Saturday’s win here over Fulham, which had been thumping and unusually stress-free.

End-of-season Fulham or Simeone’s Atlético in a showpiece semi-final? Nobody in Arsenal red had anticipated anything other than a battle royale and the club’s fans tried to make it hostile for the visitors. Atlético were bothered by fireworks on Monday night above their hotel in Shoreditch. The Arsenal supporters turned out in force to greet the team buses, red flares lighting the scene, although it was not exactly intimidating. The pre-match tifo was nicely presented. North London forever was belted out.

Arteta went for it with his starting XI. The attack-minded Riccardo Calafiori at left-back. Myles Lewis-Skelly in a thrusting central midfield role. Arteta asked Declan Rice to sit deeper. Calafiori pushed up and inside. So did Ben White from right-back. Simeone set up with his two banks of four. His team have been porous too often this season; rather un-Simeone-like. He demanded that they were compact here.

Atlético had a couple of flickers up the right in the early running. With Antoine Griezmann pulling wide, they wondered whether they could get at Calafiori. Giuliano Simeone crossed low for Julián Alvarez, who shot wide under pressure. Then, when Griezmann pulled back, the ball broke for Simeone Jr and it needed a block tackle from Rice to close him down.