If fans of Real Madrid may have enjoyed their victory over Manchester City in the play-off round of the Champions League a little more because of the links between Pep Guardiola and Barcelona, the Catalan coach may have enjoyed a little more on his glass on Tuesday evening during the viewing of Arsenal's victory. The Gunners will take a benefit of three goals next week on the Santiago Bernabeu, where they should try to avoid one of the famous comebacks of Real Madrid.
Arsenal -Manager Mikel Arteta revealed after the game that Guardiola had his own part to play in the defeat for Real Madrid. The former Everton -Man was a number of years an assistant alongside Guardiola in Manchester City before taking over as an Arsenal coach, and spoke with his former boss about playing Los Blancos.
“We spoke with Pep (Guardiola) a few days ago and I wanted to ask him for some advice. It is important to learn from the best,” Arteta told Sport after the game.
The Basque coach called it a historic night, but did not want to be excited too much for the second stage.
“If you have not played against Real Madrid for 20 years and have not made a long term in the Champions League, you have to write history. These fans will remember it for a long time.”
“They (the fans) enjoyed it, but we have time to prepare for the big challenge. The players are full of excitement. It is part of their history. We are clearly about the performance we have played, but we will talk about the game we have to play in Madrid.”
On the other hand, there is an argument, without taking any credit away from Arsenal, that this is par for the course against the defense of Los Blancos of recent times. The third goal of Mikel Merino on Tuesday evening scored the 11 goals in the last four games of Real Madrid and extended to a point of only two clean sheets in 17 outings.
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