For all the pre-match talk of a famous “remontada,” reigning champions Real Madrid put in the meekest of performances to exit the Champions League against Arsenal.
Facing an uphill task of overcoming a three-goal deficit following the first leg in London last week, Real knew they needed to put in a historic performance to continue their quest to seal yet another European title. Only four teams have overcome a first-leg deficit of three or more goals in 32 years of Champions League knockout history, and Real failed to become the fifth. They didn’t even come close.
Despite an early disallowed goal for Kylian Mbappé, who was quite clearly yards offside, Arsenal exerted more pressure on the hosts in the hunt for a goal that could kill off the tie. They were given a golden opportunity to do just that in the 11th minute.
After initially being missed by referee François Letexier, VAR called him to the pitchside monitor to review an incident involving Raúl Asencio and Mikel Merino on a corner. Without much hesitation, Letexier awarded a penalty and up stepped Bukayo Saka with a chance to give Arsenal a 4-0 lead in the tie.
However, a usually clinical Saka inexplicably attempted to dink the ball over Thibaut Courtois, but the Belgian called his bluff, dove the right way and easily palmed his penalty out. Courtois has now saved three of his last six penalties faced in the Champions League (excluding shootouts), with no goalkeeper saving more since the start of the 2021-22 campaign. That was the first penalty in 17 attempts (including shootouts) that Saka’s taken for Arsenal and seen saved by the opposition goalkeeper.
Just over 10 minutes later, there was yet more drama as Real Madrid thought they had a penalty of their own. Mbappé and Declan Rice tangled inside the box, with Rice having his arms around the Frenchman, but the Real forward going to ground with suspicious ease. Letexier pointed to the spot, but following another VAR intervention, which took over six minutes to review, the penalty was overturned.
Despite his earlier penalty miss, Saka looked the most likely Arsenal player to cause damage to Real. He proved that with an excellent finish – this time having no issue lifting the ball over Courtois – following a pass from Merino. The goal silenced an already quieting Bernabéu crowd.
The decibel levels increased again less than two minutes later, however, when an uncharacteristic error from William Saliba allowed Vinícius Júnior to steal in and score in an unguarded net. Saliba was caught napping on the ball after receiving it from David Raya, giving the Brazilian a simple task.
After such a phenomenal performance across the tie, it was only right that Arsenal played out the final meaningful act. With Real Madrid chasing a lost cause, the Gunners broke away and Gabriel Martinelli side-footed past Courtois with the Spanish defence all at sea in added time to cap off their night.
For a team needing at least three goals, it was telling for Real to not attempt a single shot on target until the 56th minute into the match. They only attempted three overall in the game, half the tally of Arsenal (6).
While the La Liga side’s attack was undoubtedly disappointing, Arsenal’s exceptional defensive structure and discipline (ignoring Saliba’s momentary lapse of concentration) throughout the game could be studied in ‘avoiding being on the wrong end of a comeback’ classes for years ahead. They both outfought and outthought the record European champions on their own patch in a pressure cauldron.
Following this win, Arsenal are favourites to win the Champions League with the Opta supercomputer. On the evidence of their performances over the two legs of this tie, few would argue against that prediction. Enditem
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