Diego Simeone hailed his 10 "heroes" after Atletico Madrid escaped with a 1-1 draw in their Europa League semi-final first leg against Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
Antoine Griezmann's strike eight minutes from time cancelled out Alexandre Lacazette's opener as the Gunners were punished for not taking their chances against 10 men for 80 minutes.
Arsenal must now go on the attack next week at the Wanda Metropolitano in order to secure a first European final since 2006 - with Atletico firm favourites to lift the trophy at the Stade de Lyon next month.
The Gunners have to win in Madrid or draw the game at least 2-2 to advance to the final - an unlikely scenario when Sime Vrsaljko was dismissed for a second bookable offence after 10 minutes.
Simeone watched much of the game from the directors' box after he fumed on the touchline in the early stages, but the Argentinian expressed his excitement at what promises to be an intriguing second leg next week.
"It's tough to know what to say," he said. "The ref decided to send off Vrsaljko and I thought an Arsenal player should have got a booking. When I protested he sent me off.
"To be honest it was 90 minutes in which my body was full of strong emotions, these players are basically heroes.
"They stood firm, after a long season, for 80 minutes in a tremendous way. I have goosebumps thinking about the next match."
After announcing he will step down as Arsenal boss at the end of the campaign, this was Arsene Wenger's final European home game at the helm.
But he admits his side now head to Spain in a "difficult position" after another profligate evening in front of goal.
"We produced a performance we wanted to produce, but the result is not in line with the performance," Wenger said.
"We can only look at ourselves on tonight's result because 1-0 is a perfect result at home. It was down to us after that not to make a mistake.
"We had 20 shots on goal, we have seen that against Manchester United (earlier in the season), where we had 33 shots on goal and lost the game. It's a story we've seen before.
"For us the task is clear. But of course you come out tonight with a bitter taste, because we had the chances to be in the final tonight.
"That's where the regret is. We were not clinical enough and unfortunately we gave a goal away which puts us in a very difficult position."