An arsenal attack with three goals in 13 second half minutes ensured that the Gunners export the 2-0 first legs for the first leg of Real Madrid to set up a semi-final of the Champions League with Lyon after their 3-2 total victory.
The Gunners blew their visitors away from the first whistle after the interval. Even with a real kick -off, it only took 44 seconds for the cross of Chloe Kelly to come home from close by by Alessia Russo to bring the comeback to life.
Real had turned out to be a heavy note before the break to crack for wasting arsenal, but collapsed after Russo's opener.
What remained of their lead was torn away three minutes later when the header of Mariona Caldentey, from another Kelly Cross, slid through the hands of goalkeeper Misa to level the draw.
Appropriate Russo saved the best goal that the winner was, only 10 minutes later, who took Steph Catley's knock-down in the roof of the net from a free kick, with the attacker in disbelief with the speed of the battle of the Gunners.
Russo thought twice that she had sealed the place of Arsenal in the last four – and the game ball for herself – in the final phase, but saw both goals excluded for narrow outside.
The hosts survived a rare Real Madrid fear when Linda Caicedo shot directly on Daphne from Domselaar, but otherwise rarely suffered from the Emirates for a record audience in this phase of the Women's Champions League of 22,517.
The victory, which looked so difficult with just 45 minutes from the draw, puts a double header with the French champions Lyon in the last four, on the mid-week from 19-20 April and 26-27 April.
Slegers: We never stopped believing during the break
Arsenal Head Coach Renee Slesers:
During her half-time team talk: “We were energetic in the first half, our press was very good, but in the second half we talked about how we had such a good team with players who could come and make a difference.
“Not Real Madrid, we knew we would make them tired because they hadn't had much of the ball, and we spoke a bit about what spaces we could find in the last third.”
Where the result in her time is in the lead: “We have done really good things, returning from half a time and set backs, really good performance against top teams.
“But this is definitely one of them, perhaps the clearest of them, where the game looks and the result is what it is. You have to come back the result, so this is perhaps the clearest.”
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