Carlo Ancelotti and Jude Bellingham hope for a new special evening in the Santiago Bernabeu, while Real Madrid wants to overcome Arsenal.
Madrid is 3-0 from the first stage, which Arsenal won thanks to two beautiful Declan Rice Free-Kicks and Mikel Merino's goal at Emirates Stadium.
Los Blancos, the 15-times European champions, has become famous for their comebacks of Champions League.
In recent years they have compared similar fightbacks against Bayern Munich, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Manchester City.
The Bernabeu is hosted for many memorable European nights, and Ancelotti hopes that another will come on Wednesday.
“The Bernabeu has magic, everyone knows it is a special atmosphere,” said Ancelotti.
“We need a little bit of everything, quality and a complete game in terms of physicality and collective attitude. Not one of these things can go wrong.
“Madrid has the means to convert this draw. We have the quality, the dedication, the experience, the fans. The means are there and now it's time to make the best of it.
“[Games at the Bernabeu] Are very important because the fans' boost helped us a lot.
“[On Wednesday] It will be the same, we have to play at our maximum level to try to change the draw. It is currently very complicated, but tomorrow we try to change that. “
2 – The five players to score two direct free kicks in the same UEFA Champions League match:
2025 – Declan Rice (V Real Madrid) 2023 – Hakim Ziyech (V Man Utd) 2018 – Neymar (V Crvena Zvezda) 2009 – Cristiano Ronaldo (V Zurich) 2000 – Rivaldo (V Milan)
Not to stop. pic.twitter.com/icylcvsgkf
– Optajoe (@Optajoe) April 8, 2025
It was a feeling that was reflected by Talisman Bellingham in midfield, who is no stranger to get big in important moments for club and country.
“I think there is an expectation from Real Madrid that when we come in these holes, we can come back,” he said.
“In England it is not so common, but it does happen. The club has done it so often, so the expectations are huge. I have heard it a million times since last week, I have seen a million videos – it is really motivating things.
“It is a night that was made for Real Madrid. A night that would go into history, but also something that people in this part of this world are familiar with.
“Hopefully we can add a special evening. There is not much that you can do for Real Madrid in the Champions League that has not yet been done, so this is a chance for us to do something for the first time.”
Madrid's defeat at the Emirates was the fifth time that they have lost the first stage of a knockout phase draw in the European Cup/Champions League with 3+ goals, while in the second four times they were eliminated in the second stage (the exception against Derby County-75-75-75-75-6 An aggregation after a 1-4 reports in the first carrot).
Iconic moments against English teams in the Bernabéu … (2/2) pic.twitter.com/tgyladzv8y
– Real Madrid CF (@Realmadriden) 15 April 2025
Los Blancos managed to create opportunities with a value of only 0.5 expected goals in the first stage, even as Arsenal trusted rice at two moments to put them first.
“There was not one aspect of our game in the first stage that was on the standard that we expect from ourselves,” said Bellingham.
“We know that we can play much better and that is what we want to show tomorrow. It is one thing to lose, but it is something else not to learn.”
The predictive model of OPTA predicts a Madrid victory in the night, whereby the hosts came at the top in 54.8% of the simulations-led simulations.
However, it depicts the Gunners to reach the semi -final, allowing them to do a 92% chance.
About the 53 games that Madrid played against English parties in the European Cup/Champions League, they have succeeded in winning more than three goals on only two earlier occasions: 5-1 V Derby in 1975-76 (last 16) and 4-0 V Tottenham in 2010-11 (quarter-final).
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