Ever since that glorious night at the Emirates last week we have been monumentally gaslighted by Real Madrid, aided and accompanied by most of the British press. You might be three goals up, but we are Real Madrid in the Bernabeu and nobody beats us there. We will sweep back to beat you because that’s what we do. We are Los Blancos. And do you know what? Us Arsenal fans bought it. Every Gooner I know was nervous last night and my phone was buzzing with nervous messages.
Madrid was full of Gooners, including our very own CER who had made the trip from Winchmore Hill. My timeline was full of pictures and videos of Gooners drinking beer and eating tapas. FOMO much? Well maybe just a bit, but I cannot do these long overseas trips any more. Our fans were up in the Gods, similar to St James Park.
Our line up was as follows, the same starting XI as in the first leg:
Raya, Timber, Saliba, Kiwior, MLS, Ødegaard, Partey, Rice, Saka, Merino and Martinelli.
We had an early scare when the ball was in the Arsenal net, but Mbappe was five yards offside. Alaba commited a shocking foul on our Myles and was rightly booked. After 10 minutes we had a corner. Rice put it in and the ball was cleared. But the ref stopped play and VAR sent him to the screen. Ascensio had pulled down Merino. Penalty!
Saka stepped up but unaccountably tried a panenka to the right of Courtois. The big man reached up and easily clawed it away. A great chance missed and maybe a psychological shift? It looked like it when, following an innocuous cross into the Arsenal box, Mbappe tumbled to the ground when next to Rice and the ref gave a penalty. Worse he then gave a yellow card to Rice who would miss the next game.
There then followed an interminable wait, over five minutes, for VAR. We and all the commentators were convinced it was nonsense (and that there was an offside to boot). Finally the ref was sent again to the screen. A long wait while he watched the play over and over. Finally he stepped away and dramatically crossed his arms indicating no foul, no penalty and no card for Rice. The crowd were furious. Did this French referee not know where he was? Decisions are never given against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu! I’ll tell you this for nothing – that penalty decision would not have been reversed by a PGMOL ref in the Prem.
A real turning point in the game. You could hear the Arsenal fans singing loudly. 30 minutes had passed and there was no score. Time passed. Seven minutes of added time were given, mainly due to the lengthy VAR delays. We easily saw them out. First object achieved. An exhausting and nerve wracking first half that seemed to last forever.
Real Madrid 0-0 Arsenal (HT)
No changes by either team at half time. On 55 minutes you could hear the Arsenal fans giving it the Ole’s. In the Bernabeu. Amazing. On came Dani Ceballos (drinks Estrella, eats paella), Endrick and Garcia for Rodrygo, Vasquez and Alaba. We saw yet another foul from Rudiger, this time for stamping on MLS. He has clearly inherited the invisibility cloak previous worn by Rodri. How had he avoided a yellow?
On 63 minutes, delirium. Merino, after good work by Rice and Odegaard, neatly played in Saka, who deliciously chipped the ball over the charging Courtois.
YES, YES, YES!
Real Madrid 0-1 Arsenal (Saka 63)
But, just two minutes later, Saliba seemed not to see Vinicius Jr, who robbed him and put the ball in the net. Oh Willy! Back to just a three goal lead!
Real Madrid 1-1 Arsenal (Vinicius Jr 65)
Modric came on for Ascensio. Mbappe limped off for Diaz. Trossard came on for Saka. In the 85th minute, Partey reacted to a foul by Rudiger and was yellow carded. Oh Thomas! He now misses the first leg of the semi final. Rice was visibly furious with him.
Our fans were now throughly enjoying themselves. You could hear them very clearly on the TV.
Come to see The Arsenal! You’ve only come to see The Arsenal!
Are you Tottenham in disguise?
Everywhere we goooo, stadiums get empty!
Five extra minutes. Real Madrid continued to just throw in crosses which were easily nodded away. After one of these crosses, Merino (who was superb) brought the ball forward. He timed his pass to Martinelli beautifully. He burnt off the defender, opened his body and slid it past Courtois, Henry style. Truly, in the home of bullfighting, the coup de grace. We had just beaten Real Madrid 2-1 on the night and 5-1 on aggregate.
This was a magnificent performance by the whole team. I will single out the superlative Rice, Saka, Merino (two superb assists), Myles Lewis-Skelly, Kiwior, Saliba and Timber. Real Madrid have still not beaten us in the Champions League (played 4, won three, drawn 1). We are in the semi final against PSG. This was a coming of age performance for this team. I am so proud of them.
Bring it on.
Cheers C100!
Your headline was actually what we were singing in our house on the final whistle!
Great work C100 – an accurate and evocative account of an unbelievable night. One question- is it possible to put a picture of our team celebrating in the Bernabeu ?
I found the tension almost unbearable -goodness knows what I will be like if we progress further !
Fortunately the side were to a man quite superb . We took all the heat out of the game helped by a fair referee and our defence was impregnable save for Willy’s brain fart ! Everyone will pick particular stars but I thought Rice was incredible , Saka scared the life out of them ( expect a bid!) but Merino was brilliant . Two beautiful assists and he relished the challenge of playing Real. He has probably not faced them in such a good team before .
The jeopardy of yellow cards is a worry. The ought to increase the threshold as the competition goes on. Imagine losing Declan for the final ? !
A super night and maybe we will face a double header against Barca in the Rio Champions League !
TTG, yellow cards are now wiped, but suspensions are carried forward (hence Partey).
Superb performance. Your last paragraph captures the outstanding performers I saw.
@4 C100, I didn’t know that. Good. Partey was superb in both RM games and will be a big miss in the next.
Loving this. Rice cooks better with the lid on.
A superb account of a fabulous performance. Iniquitous to pick a MotM from that team – they were all heroes – but Rice was a colossus. He has shown the value of pushing the boat out to get him. The belief flowing through that team was palpable and if this wasn’t a coming of age, I don’t know what is. No distractions now, save picking up enough points in the league to guarantee uncomplicated entry to next season’s CL. Focus on the next game but start planning the destruction of PSG.
To coin a Lonestarism, for the occasion, PSGMBD! Or for our celebrated classicist when he emerges from the galleries, LVTITIA DELENDA EST.
For TTG, as requested.
Hooray and Hurrah for the good guys have stuffed the spoiled rotten ones. Thanks for your outstanding account of the magical night, c100, and on to PSG and beyond with any luck. Lord knows we have the skill and the coaching.
The latest leaderboard for the GHF Predictathon has been posted. It’s a bit of a shocker. You know where to find it…
Fabulous report, C100. It was just a joyous result that you celebrate so well. Like TTG, I did not find the game relaxing to watch, ticking off the play in 15-minute blocks that seemed to last longer and longer. It was an outstanding team performance in contrast to Madrid, who, like Man City, are exposed as less than the sum of their undoubtedly talented parts once their Cloak of Invincibility is removed.
Great report, C100. Pretty much summed it up.
La la la la
La la la la
La la la
La la la
La la la la la
His name is Gabby
He’s from Sao Paulo
And he plays for Arsenal
La la la la…..
71% of the Earth’s surface is covered by water.
Declan Rice covers the rest.
Re: Ned @11: thanks for the report and charts. Is fourth in the Predictathon worth a Champions League spot. I have reason to hope so, it appears. 🤞
Bath
How kind of you to attach a celebratory photo. Tha5 Saka goal was a thing of great beauty but the lapse deserve a celebration even it it was a win over the team we beat 100% of the time we play them at the Bernabeu !
What a lovely farewell tour for KT3 to mark his time at Arsenal
Ned produced some interesting revenue figures about what progression in the CL meant in financial terms . Presumably our win against Madrid will be worth upwards of £20 m ? That’s a salary package for an elite player for a season
Superb report, C100 – love all the song / chant lyrics.
I said after our win last week that the thing I wanted or hoped for most in the Bernebeu was a fair, strong referee. He actually missed our penalty and gave theirs wrongly but at least he was strong enough to correct both after VAR review. Handled the rest of the game pretty well in front of that crowd – but could and should have sent Rudiger off for accumulated offences if not one or two individual ones.
A magnificent achievement for the manager and all the squad. Rice was fantastic but you don’t go there and get a result like that unless every single one of them does there job perfectly to plan. I would out Saliba’s blip at 50-50 with Raya – a bit of a silly pass to William with two forwards waiting to pounce.
Composure regained quickly, we made them look very ordinary indeed over two legs. I loved all their carping, crying and whining at the referee as they realised they were not getting everything they wanted – as they usually do.
Bellingham for Rice ? Not in a million years. Rice taught him a lesson as a footballer and a person – twice over the tie. If Bellingham’s reputation is to be taken seriously he needs to cut the petulant yob out of his act.
On to the semi finals. What a team !
Thanks C100, a great report and I entirely agreed with the points about the endless and annoying remontada nonsense and the chances of us getting the ridiculous penalty against Declan overturned in the PL.
It was a great performance and should give us a lot of heart for the PSG game.
TTG@18: A quick summary or our CL spondulix so far;
From the equal shares pot, accounting for 670 million or 27.5% of the total prize money, which is split equally between the 36 teams that qualified for the league phase, we get:
18.6 million euros
From the performance-related prize pot of 914 million euros, 37.5% of the total, we get:
13.3 million euros for league phase results (six wins and a draw)
11 million euros for participating in the round of 16
12.5 million euros for participating in the quarter-finals
15 million euros for participating in the semi-finals
So that is 70.4 million euros — about £60 million — so far.
Getting to the final would be worth an additional 18.5 million euros, which gets upped to 25 million euros if we win Big Ears.
There is also broadcasting and five-year club coefficient money — the so called value pillar prize pot — to come. That won’t be worked out until the competition is over. The further we get, the more it will bump up our share of the 853 million euros on offer in the value pillar, which accounts for 35% of the total prize money.
Mark you, Chelsea and Man City will get $38 million each just for showing up at FIFA’s World Club Championship in the summer and could make $125 million if they win it.
bt8@15: fourth in the Predictathon is as good as a trophy. 🙂
Thanks Ned . If we win it we may well net north of 100m Euros .
The credibility of the FIFA World Club Cup will be heavily compromised when Man City and Chelsea who may not be in next season’s Champions League pitch up as England’s representatives this summer but money seems to follow money in football . The timing of C130y’s charges being announced and them being found guilty may well hold up any European qualification for them next season .
While the FIFA competition is a shambles it is astonishingly lucrative and you can extend your squad to cope with extra games .
Cheers C100 for a splendid review of a superlative result. The whole squad contributed- they all deserve the praise including MA8 and tbe coaching team. They really did make Madrid seem second rate. Kudos also to the match officials who had the cojones to review both penalty decisions – they only enhanced the view at the low level the PGMOL operate at.
Earlier on this evening 2 English teams at the lower end of the EPL table have managed to
reach the semi-final of the Europa cup. It appears this season’s-expansion of the Champions League, along with eliminated teams no longer dropping into the Europa has really lowered the level of that competition.
I can only agree with Uply as to the lowering of standards in the Ropey League, although it would also be hilarious if Bodo Glimt dump the marshdwellers in the semi finals.
Talking of the Ropey Leagues and Uply – a fierce three-way fight to the finish is developing in our far more prestigious completion. Unlike UEFA’s pale shadow our standards have never lowered😄 Good luck to Uply, Lonestar and TTG as they tackle the long run for home
and eternal glory.
Morning all. Happy Easter. Anyone else still buzzing? Me too. I recommend Arseblog this morning.
Couple of questions before we start thinking about the tractor boys.
1. Is Declan Rice the long awaited successor to Patrick Vieira?
2. In the midst of the injury crisis, the way certain players have stood up and been counted have been remarkable and admirable. I ‘m thinking at least Mikel Merino, Jakub Kiwior and Myles Lewis-Skelly, although I’m tempted to add the reincarnation of Gabi Martinelli to that list. How does this newfound squad depth affect our summer transfer business?
Gabi’s new song
https://x.com/clockendgooner3/status/1912783821583294711?s=61&t=cVFjCyGkt4y-Ne45LtfqkQ
Mike McDonald. Well worth waiting an extra day for.
I’m very much buzzing although part of that is a filthy cold.
Your choice of players is excellent but at the same time it seems invidious to pick out anybody. They all played wonderfully well. I’m a huge fan of Timber , he is one of our very best buys and I’m full of admiration for the way in which Kiwior( who I had reservations about) and Merino have adapted to their roles .
One very continental thing I don’t really get is the way the role of captain is treated having grown up on Mclintock and then seen Adams do the job so well. Declan Rice is the heartbeat of that team and is to me the natural skipper , but he is also a very underrated player. He completely outplayed Bellingham and we will inevitably see Madrid linked with swoops for him and Saka . Good luck with that . He is the best midfield player since Vieira and was a real bargain at £105 m!
C100 @27. Oh man that brings it mall back The Ashburton Army drummer kept that going for an eternity.
If anyone’s curious, the tune is from a Po Valley folk song cells Bella Ciao, which was sung by the women in the rice fields – particularly hard work, in poor, mosquito filled conditions, with the bosses overseeing them cruelly. Still very popular in the North.
The song that is, not the cruelty…..
https://www.nytimes.com/athletic/6287445/2025/04/18/arsenal-real-madrid-champions-league-friendship/
A beautiful piece from Amy Lawrence tga5 many of us can empathise with . She understands the real essence of being a Gooner ( Holic) . And let’s drink another toast to the Guvna and hope he got to enjoy the match. He so wanted us to win it I remember him saying this to me shortly be&ore he died . Lots of glasses woukd be reused to him if we can triumph in Munich
Kiwior is an international-class defender who would be starting in any team that didn’t have a centre back pairing of the quality of Saliba and Gabriel. The steady improvement in his performances since coming into the team is evidence of why players need a run of games to hit their best form.
Props, too, to Arteta for seeing the potential in Merino to take the Havertz role.
Thanks C100 and TTG for the links to two more great pieces.
And what C100 said @26, lot of players have really come
through when the going got tough.
3 small words in response to c100’s title above:
NOT MY REMONTADA !!
Thank you TTG for that lovely piece by Amy Lawrence who must be my favorite Arsenal writer (although you are admittedly not far off). My favorite passage of her article was this: “Word soon spreads about an Irish place near Sol where one fan walked in and stuck £10,000 behind the bar to fund free drinks all night. Probably just as well it was 19 years since Arsenal last won here, because surely that kind of largesse can’t come around too often.”
It made me feel like I was there in that bar, which I might have been 44 years ago when I was a college student. The depth of feeling is the thing.
Best of luck to the Arsenal women in
the CL semi final against Lyon. I am not
an expert by any means but I read Lyon
have a very storied history in this
competition but then so did Real Madrid
in the men’s version……
TTG@32: Just got round to reading Amy’s piece. Thanks for posting the link. A delightful piece. Written by one of our own, but it speaks to everyone who has ever walked through a turnstile.
>>>>>>>