Real Madrid suffered a great indignation during their 3-0 Champions League defeat by Arsenal Then Songs of 'Are you Tottenham in disguise' around the Emirates.
The European champions were put on Tuesday evening by Mikel Arteta's men in the first stage of the quarterfinals to Het Zwaard as a breathtaking bracket of free kicks from Declan Rice and a smart Mikel Merino finish sentenced them to a fifth loss in the competition this period.
Despite their continuous injury problems, the Gunners came in the draw as marginal favorites, with Madrid showing vulnerabilities in his own country and in earlier rounds of the European Cup. But they were still expected to resemble the swaggering continental giants who dumped Manchester City from the competition and prevailed in a thoroughly bloody derby against Atletico Madrid.
Instead, the men of Carlo Ancelotti were reduced to a sad imitation of their better self, an image that led the home support to question the identity of the opposition for them.
After Merino had scored his seventh goal in 12 games – Arsenal's third of the night – the emirates burst into disguise in the context of the singing 'Are you Tottenham', a number of under the Arsenal support for mocking the intended goal and their much less illustrious rivals at the same time.
On the proof of Tuesday view, a comparison with traces can be considered rather generously.
It is true that the first two goals from Arsenal came from Rice's inspired right boat, who placed two free kicks in the corner past Thibaut Courtois. But the Gunners were more than a good prize for their victory and should have won with an even greater margin.
They knew a stunning 11 shots on the goal, the joint shots that Madrid confronted with their goal in a knockout competition for Champions League.
Madrid ended the night with an XG of 0.50 and did not create any great chance, despite all the pre-match analysis that focused on the weakened defense of Arsenal without the wounded Gabriel.
The 15-way winners and the confidence of the reigning champion in destroying the deficiency on the Bernabeu were demonstrated next week in Ancelotti's post-match attitude, but their display in North London did nothing to illustrate a capacity to score one, let alone three goals that were answered next time.
The Gunners are now regular favorites to continue to the semi-final where they will meet Paris Saint-Germain or Aston Villa in their search for winning their Maiden Champions League title.
Comments