Real Madrid 1-2 Arsenal (1-5 on aggregated): Arsenal stood up for a long time to deliver one of their best nights ever, and they should be seen as serious candidates for the Champions League
The legendary Remontada has never arrived. Instead, it was Arsenal who produced one of the big Champions League nights. The men of Mikel Arteta were brave, strong and victorious when they completed the track and marched their first semi -final of the Champions League for 16 years.
This was a statement from Arsenal when they overwhelmed Mighty Real Madrid last week in the Emirates – and then delivered a sensational victory.
It was the kind of achievements and results that Arsenal fans will have who believe and dream that they can go completely, because in the course of two legs they were the ones who looked like experienced European campaigners.
They are confronted with Paris Saint Germain then and you can be sure that a 5-1 total score against the 15 times that European champions will let everyone sit and notice.
Arsenal was almost as impressive in this second stage as in the first because they came to the Bernabeu and win something very special.
All this talk about the Remontada – the Spanish word for comeback – had fooled the locals to believe it could happen. But it never looked at a distance.
Bukayo Saka made up for a shocking missed fine in the first half by only putting Arsenal with a wonderful finish, only for William Saliba to make the only mistake of the night to give Vinicius Junior an equalizer.
But even then Arsenal held firmly, delayed it and suppressed the sound and the atmosphere before Gabriel Martinelli delivered the knockout blow in the injury time.
What a way to seal the victory and end the night. No wonder the Arsenal fans in the gods celebrate and sang their hearts at the last whistle.
The last time Arsenal came to the Bernabeu, they won 1-0 and went all the way to the final in 2006 to fall at the last obstacle.
But now Arteta will take a lot of confidence that he can deliver the ultimate price and the European Cup that even Arsene Wenger has avoided, the biggest manager in the history of the club.
A new chapter beckons for Arteta and that comes from an excellent disciplined display. They kept Real Madrid on arm length, reduced to an endless cross crosses and only got a shot on goal for the 56th minute.
Declan Rice Bossed Midfield, his English teammate Jude Bellingham dominated and that typified the difference in quality between the two parties of the night.
Arsenal was beautiful. They were short in the title race of this season. So what does Arteta do? Arsenal leads on a European indictment.
The first real flashpoint of the game came after 11 minutes. After a VAR check, the French referee François Letexier gave a penalty for the shirt of Raul Asencio on Mikel Merino.
It was a gift for Arsenal – and yet it rejected terribly. Martin Odegaard looked like he would take it, Saka took over and his weak penalty – a chip but on the one hand barely a Panenka – was saved by Courtois.
The volume went up and then Real Madrid got a penalty – only for the referee to change thoughts after a long VAR check. Rice had challenged Kylian Mbappe, but it was never a penalty.
Arsenal grew in faith and continued after 65 minutes. A nice structure of the patient was followed by Mikel Merino's Smart Through Ball and there was Saka to Chip. The road fans on the gods became wild.
Unfortunately for them, the management lasted only two minutes on the night. Saliba switched off, Vinicius JR did not crawl and the real superstar hit home. It was the only significant mistake by Arsenal about two legs. Thomas Partey received a late booking to pose him out of the semi -final.
But Arsenal did not have to be denied. Merino sent Martinelli through it and he threw in the far corner. These nights go into the club legend.
Become a member of our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of mirror football content. We also deal with our members of the community on special offers, promotions and advertisements from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can view every time you like. If you are curious, you can read our privacy statement.
Comments