That’s all for tonight. Thanks for your company – see you soon.
Jude Bellingham’s verdict
We were nowhere near it and Arsenal were really good. To be honest they could have had way more and we’re lucky to get away with 3-0. There’s a second leg and that’s what we’re holding on. But we’ll need something unbelievably special – something crazy really. But if there’s one place where crazy things can happen, it’s at our house. There’s loads of time left.
In these games you need to create more. Very rarely do you come to a place like this and have only one chance, take it and go through. We got to the final third loads of times but we didn’t do enough with the ball to threaten.
We’ve still got 90 minutes left. Anything can happen at the Bernabeu. Anything.
Mikel Arteta's reaction
Beautiful. I’m so happy, so proud of the team. The atmosphere was incredible. I’ve never seen the stadium like this.
[Beaming as he talks about Declan Rice’s goals] That’s the beauty of whoever invented this sport. He has never scored a free-kick, we haven’t scored one since September 2021; tonight we scored two in 12 minutes. What he’s done is incredible. Dec strikes the ball so cleanly but then you have to do it at the highest level against one of the best keepers in the world. Amazing.
At half-time we told the players to simplify the game. We were doing things very well but at the end we were lacking the final connection, the simplicity to find the next pass. We managed to do that in the second half.
[On Bukayo Saka] He raises the level of the team. There is a fear factor every time he’s on the ball and he generates more space for the rest of the team. He came off but he’s fine – it was just a kick.
A bit more from Declan Rice, who is currently occupying cloud No9
[On the second goal] I’ve not seen this yet, everyone’s saying it’s better. [‘By far’ interjects Clarence Seedorf.]
[Rice watches the replay] It looks far out… You don’t even realise. At first I was gonna go over the wall but I practice going to the keeper’s side a lot and I just went with it. After the first one I just had the confidence: if it goes over the bar, it goes over the bar.
We want to win this competition, of course. We have another leg to go in this round and we have to take it one game at a time. I won’t be looking too far ahead.
[Seedorf: ‘One bit of advice, do look ahead. Visualise it.’]
All my career I’ve had people telling me to shoot more and that I need to create more stuff. There was one in the first half – I stopped my run and if I kept going I’d have had a tap-in. It’s these little things, having the mindset of wanting to score goals. Sometimes I’m on the edge of the box and I’m getting pressed and I feel like I can’t quite shift it quickly enough to get a shot off. I do have the ability to do it. It’s a confidence thing, you know. I need to keep reminding myself that I can do it.
I know I can score more goals. It’s about demanding more of myself and having the courage to keep doing it.
[On Bukayo Saka] He’s worked his socks off for three months. He got back really fast, he’s incredible.
More from Declan Rice, the Alan Suddick des nos jours
[Beaming from ear to ear] I don’t know if this will ever sink in to be honest. I’ve just turned my phone on, it’s gone crazy! As you can see I’m a bit speechless, I’m just so happy. It was a big night for us.
The manager just said to us: even though we’re 3-0 up, the individual quality they have is scary. And the Bernabeu’s the Bernabeu: on Champions League nights, special things happen for them. We’re not going there to defend, we want to attack, we want to be in the Champions League semi-final. We’re looking forward to it already.
[Any of those messages from David Beckham?] I’m not lucky enough to have his number!
[On the first goal] Originally I was gonna reverse-cross it but the line was too high. It didn’t make sense to cross it. I saw they had a four-man wall and there was a gap. Bukayo said, ‘If you feel it, go for it…’ and I thought, ‘You know what…’
Then I just hit it!
As soon as it went in… it’s one of those moments. You can’t explain it, it’s the best feeling in the world when you score.
Mikel Merino’s goal was the worst of the night. And it was bloody superb. I didn’t do justice to the quality of the finish, the way he hit it with just enough spin to take it inside the near post. Apparently he has now scored more goals against Real (4) than any other club.
Here’s David Hytner’s report
'In a few years I'll realise what I've done'
Here’s some reaction from Arsenal’s goalscorers.
Declan Rice
The message from the manager was that we had to be super-convinced we could win this game, and we were.
[On his free-kicks] It’s been in the locker! It’s hit the wall too many times or gone over the bar. Originally we were gonna cross it but I saw the wall and the goalkeeper’s position so I just went for it. Then with the second one I just had the confidence. Look, there’s another leg to go – I’m excited, I’m happy, I’m over the moon; I don’t want to be all cliched. I think in a few years’ time it’ll hit me that what I’ve done tonight is really special.
[On Bukayo Saka] He’s unreal. He’s the top guy. Look, we need to be ready for next week. We know how hard it is to play at the Bernabeu.
Mikel Merino
At half-time we talked about keeping the tempo high, especially with the crowd on our side. The second half was amazing.
This guy [Rice] has one of the best shooting abilities I’ve seen in my career. I’m not surprised, maybe you are, but hopefully more will come in the future.
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“All that and no Mick Quinn,” says Kári Tulinius. “If Arsenal play like that against every opponent, they might just get to Munich in May. That said, you can’t count on Declan Rice to score two worldies, the last time he tried that second free kick he crashed it into Enzo Fernandez’ posterior.”
Talking of Munich, they’ve had a bad one.
Arsenal are favourites to reach the semi-final after a flabbergasting victory at the Emirates. After a tense first half, they blew Real Madrid away in the second. Declan Rice scored a majestic free-kick, the first of his 400-game career – then added an even better one 12 minutes later. Mikel Merino’s superb finish made it three, and a shell-shocked Real never really looked like pulling one back.
Its not a done deal, not when the second leg is at the Bernabeu, but this result is beyond Arsenal’s wildest ones. Two-nil, maybe. Three-nil? Yeah, nice one.
Full time: Arsenal 3-0 Real Madrid
NFT.
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Camavinga sent off!
90+4 min Camavinga kicks the ball away in frustration and is given a second yellow card. I suppose he was going to miss the second leg anyway.
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90+4 min Real look frantic and desperate; they just haven’t recovered from that stunning three-goal burst.
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90+1 min Stephen Bradfield got there before me. “One wouldn’t wish to put a damper on this Rob but some of us of a certain age can remember Derby County thrashing Real - who included Netzer and Breitner - 4-1 in October 1975 only to lose second leg 5-1.”
Gunter Netzer you say?
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90 min: Arsenal substitution Ben White comes on for Jurrien Timber, who has cramp. There will be four minutes of added time.
89 min “As an Arsenal fan I feel I should stress that a team coming back from losing a Champions League away leg 3-0 is very much precedented,” says Mark Harrison. “This doesn’t feel like it’s over yet!”
Haha. You’re right – I’d forgotten that they beat Derby 5-1 after losing the first leg 4-1.
88 min Real had a terrific spell around the 35-minute mark. Since then they’ve had no sustained pressure and right now Arsenal look comfortable. Carlo Ancelotti’s left eyebrow is elevated even more than usual, at least a 40-degree angle I reckon.
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86 min Arsenal have had greater European nights – the finals of 1970 and 1994, the win in Juventus in 1980 – but this is surely their best in north London, certainly at the Emirates.
85 min: Real substitution Brahim Diaz for Rodrygo.
83 min Real are hunting desperately for a goal. You wouldn’t write them off, even at 3-0 down, but they would need an unprecedented act of escapology.
81 min Before tonight, Declan Rice had never scored a direct free-kick in his professional career. That’s bonkers.
80 min: Arsenal substitution A weary Declan Rice is replaced by Kieran Tierney. He’s able to walk off so if there is an injury it hopefully isn’t too bad.
79 min: Real substitution Fran Garcia comes on for David Alaba, who had a pretty torrid night against Saka.
The goal stands! There was a pass from Rice to Trossard in the build-up that looked tight for offside, but the goal has been given.
Arsenal are 3-0 up against Real Madrid! Lewis-Skelly zipped infield from the left, as he has all night, and played a short square pass to Merino on the edge of the area. He whipped a superb shot on the turn that beat Courtois low to his right. The placement was perfect and Merino’s shot had the element of surprise as well; it’s such a good finish. And it’s the worst goal of the night!
Hang on, this might be offside.
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GOAL! Arsenal 3-0 Real Madrid (Merino 75)
What the hell is happening here?
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74 min: Arsenal substitution Leandro Trossard replaces the magnificent Bukayo Saka. He’s limping slightly but doesn’t look particularly worried; it’s probably just soreness after being fouled all night.
73 min A word too for Bukayo Saka, who was fouled for both goals. Arsenal’s giants have stood up tonight, and then some.
72 min: Real substitution Lucas Vazquez on for Luka Modric.
Declan Rice has scored another monstrous free-kick! This was even better than the first. He flashed it over the wall and straight into the top corner as Courtois dived in vain to his left.
Courtois left a gap on that side, thinking Rice would go to the near post, but a 40-man wall wouldn’t have stopped that. Two utterly, utterly brilliant free-kicks. Bend it like Declan.
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GOAL! Arsenal 2-0 Real Madrid (Rice 70)
I CANNOT SPAKE!
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69 min Camavinga was booked for that foul, which means he’ll miss the second leg. Rice is over the free-kick, which this time is to the left of centre.
68 min Arsenal come again and Saka is fouled 25 yards from goal by Camavinga. This is pulsating stuff.
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68 min: Off the line again! The resulting corner is half cleared to Rice, whose snapshot from 15 yards beats the diving Courtois and is kicked off the line by Bellingham!
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67 min: Triple chance for Arsenal! Lewis-Skelly pokes a short pass through to Martinelli, whose fierce shot across goal is beaten away by Courtois. Merino’s adroit follow-up is blocked on the line superbly by Alaba, then another Merino effort is punched dramatically over the bar by Courtois.
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67 min “Arsenal may have served up a steaming helping of Rice,” says Peter Oh, “but this only means that Real Madrid will answer with a stunning paella!”
66 min Rice can’t quite sort his feet out after another excellent run into the area. At the moment Arsenal look the likelier scorers.
65 min Real will still be favourites to go through if it ends 1-0, but 2-0 is a different story. Or, to put it another way, this tie is poised as beautifully as one of Adebisi’s hats.
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63 min Saka’s corner is claimed with decisive authority by Courtois. He’s a class act, which is another reason Rice’s free-kick was so good. Even Courtois couldn’t lay a glove on it.
62 min Saka – starting his first game since mid-December, lest we forget – runs at Alaba to win another corner.
61 min Bellingham meets Modric’s corner with a speculative scorpion kick that goes straight into the arms of Raya. I think it was a scorpion kick anyway; either way it was a comfortable save.
60 min Vinicius runs at Tim-berrrrrrrrrrrrrr to win a corner. Everyone is still taking in that free-kick from Declan Rice; it was nigh-on perfect.
Declan Rice has scored a marvellous free-kick! It was slightly to the right of centre, apparently more suited to the left-footed Saka, but Rice smacked it round the wall with just enough curl to take the ball a couple of centimetres inside the near post. Courtois flew to his left but couldn’t get near it. Honestly, that is a sensational free-kick.
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GOAL! Arsenal 1-0 Real Madrid (Rice 58)
Pick that effer out!
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58 min Rice and Saka are over the free-kick…
57 min Rice does look a threat when he makes off-the-ball runs in the inside-left channel. Meanwhile the main threat, Saka, zips infield and is fouled 25 yards from goal by Alaba. Saka has been a joy tonight.
56 min Martinelli feeds a square ball into Partey, who opens his body to slide an imaginative first-time pass towards Rice in the area. It’s slightly overhit, though, and that allows Asencio to come across; Rice stretches to meet the ball but can only kick it against Asencio and out for a throw-in.
54 min Partey is booked for a cynical block on Camavinga. It was probably 50:50, but there is certainly a feeling at the Emirates that the referee is the opposite of a homer.
53 min A long spell of possession in the middle third for Real. The legitimate form of timewasting.
51 min: Quarter-chance for Mbappe Bellingham, on the edge of the box, cushions a lovely first-time pass into Mbappe on the left side of the area. The angle is tight, there’s nobody to cross to and Mbappe smashes a rising drive into the side netting. Raya had it covered.
50 min A scruffy start to the second half. That suits Real; in truth they’d probably take a one-goal defeat, such is their record in second legs at the Bernabeu.
Mikel Merino has had a quiet night, not for the want of trying, and I wonder whether the slippery movement of Trossard would be a greater threat to Real as the game starts to open up.
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48 min “I’ve tried it, spent most of the break trying it,” begins Charles Antaki. “But no; barrel-sided Micky Quinn in this Arsenal, or indeed any team in the Premier League in the last 25 years, is too hard a job for the imagination. He ended up in the Watford team of 1995, and that sounds about right.”
This is the same Mick Quinn who scored a hat-trick at Highbury on the opening day of the 1993-94 season. The second goal is majestic!
46 min Arsenal begin the second half.
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“The match has been decent but not particularly entertaining,” says Peter Oh. “Bland shirt sponsor uniformity doesn’t help. The home team’s shirt: Fly an airline. The visitors’: Fly the same airline. Boring!
“I liked these teams better when it was Sega versus Teka.”
Or even Siemens v O2, as it was when they met in 2005-06. A more innocent time!
Half-time reading
Half time: Arsenal 0-0 Real Madrid
All square at the Emirates. Both teams will feel they could be ahead: Arsenal created more openings, with Bukayo Saka superb, but Real had the clearest chance when Kylian Mbappe shot too close to David Raya.
See you in 10 minutes. For all the promise of the first half, Arsenal surely have to win tonight.
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45+2 min Camavinga blooters high and wide from distance.
45 min Two minutes of added business.
45 min On reflection, ie having seen a replay, Rice’s header wasn’t right in the corner. It was a tough chance and a good effort, but a player with his standards will be frustrated he didn’t do better.
44 min: Double save by Courtois! Timber’s short-range cross is met superbly by Rice, who powers a header into the ground and across goal. Courtois dives to his right to push it away and springs to his feet to push away Martinelli’s stinging follow-up. The first save was the best one.
43 min A few minutes ago I was going to type ‘Arsenal need half-time’ but now they are on the front foot. It’s been an intriguing half, an arm-wrestle rather than a slugfest.
40 min Odegaard and Saka are starting to work their magic. Odegaard slices Real open with a superb return pass to Saka, who beats Alaba for pace and shoots first time from the angle. It hits Rudiger in the six-yard box and flashes across the face of goal.
39 min “Timber must be a great name for football commentators to belt out,” says Peadar de Burca. “My own favourite was Goikoetxea!!!! as it always sounded like the gates of Hell had broken open, which was usually the case when Andoni from Bilbao was putting the hurt on.”
You do realise the commentators say ‘Tim-ber’ rather than ‘Tim-berrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr!’? In terms of phonetic appeal, I’ve always had a soft spot for Julio Olarticoechea. I like Gunter Netzer too, mainly because it evokes a life I’ll never lead.
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38 min If Mick Quinn was playing up front tonight, even at the age of 62, Arsenal would be 1-0 up now.
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37 min: Chance for Arsenal! At the moment the game is being played on Real’s terms, though it only takes a moment to change that. It almost comes when Saka goes outside Alaba in the area and drives a magnificent ball that flashes right across the six-yard box. It was crying out for somebody to roof it from four yards but there were no Arsenal players in there.
34 min This is Real’s best spell, and the Emirates is becoming a more nervous place. The first goal is huge, Brobdingnagian even.
33 min “If Lewis-Skelly lived his entire life to date all over again, he’d still be two years younger than Modric,” says Zach Neeley. “They’re using every second of that man.”
31 min: Big chance for Mbappe! This time Mbappe times his run perfectly, in between Saliba and Kiwior, to receive Bellingham’s sliderule pass from the left. Mbappe opens his body for the Thierry Henry finish – when in Rome and all that – but hits it too close to Raya and he makes a relatively comfortable save.
30 min Lewis-Skelly is making the extra man in midfield when Arsenal have the ball, so much so that he’s just received a pass in the inside-right channel. For once, his pass forward is poor and Real have a throw-in.
27 min Arsenal’s promising start is beginning to evaporate. They’re not being outplayed, far from it, but they haven’t worked Courtois as much as they would have hoped.
25 min Timber is up and about.
23 min Mbappe, slightly offside, wafts over the bar from the edge of the area. The oprning stemmed from an exceedingly dodgy square pass from Kiwior that put Saliba in trouble. Vinicius Jr challenged him and then played in Mbappe, who started his run too early and was offside.
Timber has hurt himself while trying to challenge Mbappe. He’s down and needs treatment.
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22 min “Are Real already time wasting?” sniffs Joe Pearson. “Come on!”
Are they?
21 min Odegaard seems to be fouled by Camavinga, 25 yards from goal, but the referee waves him up. Real break and Vinicius, on the edge of the area, shoots a few yards of the far post.
Had that gone in, there would have been mayham because it looked a clear foul on Odegaard.
19 min Lewis-Skelly gallops forward and tries to find Martinelli on the left side of the area. Asencio comes across to make a good sliding challenge.
So far Lewis-Skelly has looked eerily composed. I was going to compare him to Ashley Cole when he emerged, but at the same age Cole hadn’t played for the first team.
18 min Odegaard, leading the press, fouls Modric and gets a warning from the referee. It was a free-kick but no more than that.
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16 min Possession stats so far: Arsenal 68-32 Real Madrid.
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15 min: No penalty Football is mad, but it’s not that mad.
15 min: VAR check for an Arsenal penalty Just before Partey’s shot, a volley from Rice hit the arm Asensio at the near post. It’s never a penalty in a million years, to my eyes, but it’s still being checked…
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13 min: Courtois saves from Partey Martinelli roasts Valverde on the left and crosses to the near post. Rice’s adroit left-foot volley hits Asensio, barely a yard away, and runs loose. The ball is then touched back to Partey, whose low shot from the edge of the D is pushed away unconvincingly by Courtois. He was unsighted I guess.
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11 min It’s been a pretty good start for Arsenal, but they do look susceptible to the counter-attack, particularly through Vinicius Jr.
Halfway through typing the previous sentence, it dawned on me that there isn’t a team in the world who aren’t susceptible to counter-attacks led by Vinicius Jr.
10 min We’ve just seen a replay of that second Saka corner. It was missed by Partey, who couldn’t get under the ball as it started to dip, and then hit the unsighted Saliba almost on the goalline.
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9 min Lewis-Skelly feeds a sharp pass into Rice, unmarked on the left side of the area. His cross on the turn is cut out at the near post by Asencio. That was a promising move.
8 min “An Arsenal supporting London cab driver asked me today if I’d be supporting Arsenal tonight and I admitted sheepishly that I felt it would be disloyal to my beloved Bristol City to do so,” says Kim Thonger. “He grunted and proceeded directly to his second favourite topic of conversation, the outrageous price Gordon Ramsay charges for burgers, and the recent purchase by said restaurateur of a million pound Aston Martin. I have no idea if that was pure invention, but may I please wish Arsenal well tonight, and I hope they don’t spend their match win bonuses on overpriced burgers OR sports cars. They (and Gordon) could donate to this instead.”
7 min Saka’s awkward, inswinging corner is pushed over the bar by Courtois. The second corner from Saka is even better, teased just above head height into the six-yard box. It beats the players at the near post, hits somebody in the middle and bounces to safety. That could have gone anywhere.
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56min: Arsenal go close! Saka’s low cross takes a slight deflection and rolls towards Rudiger in the six-yard box. He whacks it into the arse of his teammate Camavinga and it deflects just wide.
4 min Odegaard’s free-kick is poor and Real break ominously. Vinicius Jr seizes upon a loose pass from Saka, runs 60 yards down the left and tries to flick a cross towards Mbappe at the far post. The ball hits Saliba and ricochets into the loving arms of Raya. That was a bit of a warning shot.
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3 min Saka is fouled just outside the area on the right by Modric. The noise is quite something, possibly the loudest the Emirates has been since Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona came to town in the early 2010s.
2 min “Hi Rob,” says Simon McMahon. “2010, eh? A great year. Inter winning the Champions League for the third time a week after Dundee United won their second Scottish Cup. Two giants of European football. And both with history against Barcelona.”
1 min Mbappe has an early pop from distance after a misjudgement from Kiwior (I think). Raya saves comfortably.
1 min Real Madrid kick off from right to left as we watch. The atmosphere is spectacular.
Mikel Arteta and Carlo Ancelotti embrace warmly on the touchline. When Ancelotti first managed in this competition, Arteta was 16 years young.
A reminder of the teams
Arsenal (4-3-3ish) Raya; Timber, Saliba, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Saka, Merino, Martinelli.
Substitutes: Neto, Setford, Tierney, White, Zinchenko, Trossard, Jorginho, Butler-Oyedeji, Gower, Nwaneri.
Real Madrid (4-3-3ish) Courtois; Valverde, Asensio, Rudiger, Alaba; Modric, Camavinga, Bellingham; Rodrygo, Mbappe, Vinicius Jr.
Substitutes: Fran Gonzalez, Sergio Mestre, Arda Guler, Endrick, Lucas Vazquez, Vallejo, Fran Garcia, Brahim, Gonzalo, Jacobo, Chema, Lorenzo.
Referee Irfan Peljto (Bosnia and Herzegovina).
Mood music
It’s been a season of incessant frustration for Arsenal. Yet it could end with them winning the European Cup for the first time. Right now, in this exhilarating, occasionally bowel-loosening window just before kick-off, anything is possible. And nights like this don’t come along very often: it’s only Arsenal’s second Champions League quarter-final in the last 15 years.
This is great fun: Sean Ingle’s minute-by-minute report of Arsenal’s win in the Bernabeu 19 years ago.
47 min - GOAL! Real Madrid 0 - 1 Arsenal Brilliant from Thierry Henry! Absolutely brilliant! From just over the half-way line he turns past Ronaldo and ghosts past three Real defenders before coolly sliding it into the far corner from 15 yards. Superb.
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Thibaut Courtois on Arsenal’s set-piece threat
We’ve worked on it. We know how we have to try to defend against them. The first thing is not to concede too many corners. It’s a matter of concentration, activation – sometimes the quality of the opponent plays a factor too. If the ball arrives perfectly, it’s difficult to defend. But we are ready to do it, we believe that what we have prepared will work out well for us.
The players on a yellow card
Arsenal Timber, Rice, Martinelli
Real Madrid Rudiger, Modric, Camavinga, Vinicius Jr, Endrick, Lucas Vazquez (and Carlo Ancelotti)
Real Madrid lost at home to Valencia on Saturday and are four points behind Barcelona with eight games to go, but Carlo Ancelotti is calm. Calmer than you are.
Bukayo Saka, who starts his first game in almost four months, is ready and raring
I think mentally [the enforced break] was really good for me. It was really tough initially to find out the extent of my injury, that I was going to have to have surgery … But once it was done and it was successful, I was just focused on coming back stronger and had a lot of time.
Obviously the past five years I’ve been playing game after game, so it was the first proper break I’ve had and it was really good for me. I got to do a lot of things that I don’t really normally do. I can give you many, many examples, but you will get bored. It’s really nice to be back and I feel fresh mentally for sure.
Tonight’s other Champions League game is a repeat of the 2010 final: Bayern Munich v Internazionale. Niall McVeigh is covering that one.
Team news: Saka starts
Bukayo Saka starts for the first time in 2025. That’s the big news, in part because both teams are largely as expected. Jakub Kiwior, who played at well at Everton on Saturday, is Mikel Arteta’s preferred replacement for the injured Gabriel Magalhaes. Mikel Merino will start up front.
Real Madrid have a couple of changes from the second leg of their win over Atletico in the last 16. David Alaba replaces the injured Ferland Mendy at left-back; Eduardo Camavinga comes in for the suspended Aurelien Tchouameni.
Arsenal (4-3-3ish) Raya; Timber, Saliba, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Saka, Merino, Martinelli.
Substitutes: Neto, Setford, Tierney, White, Zinchenko, Trossard, Jorginho, Butler-Oyedeji, Gower, Nwaneri.
Real Madrid (4-3-3ish) Courtois; Valverde, Asensio, Rudiger, Alaba; Modric, Camavinga, Bellingham; Rodrygo, Mbappe, Vinicius Jr.
Substitutes: Fran Gonzalez, Sergio Mestre, Arda Guler, Endrick, Lucas Vazquez, Vallejo, Fran Garcia, Brahim, Gonzalo, Jacobo, Chema, Lorenzo.
Referee Irfan Peljto (Bosnia and Herzegovina).
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Real Madrid have faced 141 different teams in European competition. Only four are unbeaten against them: Ipswich Town, Aberdeen, Lille – and Arsenal, who beat Real 1-0 on aggregate in the only previous meeting between the sides. That was in the last 16 in 2005-06, when Thierry Henry’s majestic solo goal was enough to see off the ageing, ailing galacticos.
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Preamble
Hello and welcome to live coverage of Arsenal v Real Madrid at the Emirates. It’s the first leg of a mouthmoistening quarter-final between the best team never to win the European Cup (probably) and the team that has won it the most (definitely).
That imbalance gives this game a slightly strange feel – part Clash of the Titans, part David vs Goliath. Madrid are strongish favourites to win the tie but Arsenal have more than enough ability to make life uncomfortable for them, particularly in front of a feral Emirates crowd tonight.
Arsenal surely need to take a lead to Madrid, ideally two goals or more. They can’t afford a repeat of last year’s quarter-final first leg, when a 2-2 draw at home to Bayern Munich set up a largely miserable night at the Allianz Arena.
Had Arsenal gone through they would have faced Real Madrid in the semis. If you want to win this trophy – their trophy – chances are you’ll have to beat them en route.
This is the ultimate test for Arsenal, one that elicits fear but also excitement and a powerful sense of opportunity. If Arsenal can get past Madrid, they’ll fancy their chances against anybody.
Kick off 8pm.
