{"id":11116,"date":"2025-04-17T10:01:39","date_gmt":"2025-04-17T09:01:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=11116"},"modified":"2025-04-19T16:02:19","modified_gmt":"2025-04-19T15:02:19","slug":"you-can-stick-your-remontada-up-your-arse","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/?p=11116","title":{"rendered":"You Can Stick Your Remontada Up Your Arse!"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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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\u2019s 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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our line up was as follows, the same starting XI as in the first leg:<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Raya, Timber, Saliba, Kiwior, MLS, \u00d8degaard, Partey, Rice, Saka, Merino and Martinelli.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u2019ll tell you this for nothing \u2013 that penalty decision would not have been reversed by a PGMOL ref in the Prem. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Real Madrid 0-0 Arsenal (HT)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

No changes by either team at half time. On 55 minutes you could hear the Arsenal fans giving it the Ole\u2019s. 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?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

YES, YES, YES!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Real Madrid 0-1 Arsenal (Saka 63)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

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!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Real Madrid 1-1 Arsenal (Vinicius Jr 65)<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Modric came on for Ascensio. Mbappe limped off for Diaz. Trossard came on for Saka. In the 85th<\/sup> 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. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Our fans were now throughly enjoying themselves. You could hear them very clearly on the TV.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Come to see The Arsenal! You\u2019ve only come to see The Arsenal!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Are you Tottenham in disguise?<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Everywhere we goooo, stadiums get empty!<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/em>. We had just beaten Real Madrid 2-1 on the night and 5-1 on aggregate. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Bring it on.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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\u2019s […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":9,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[6],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11116"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/9"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=11116"}],"version-history":[{"count":6,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11116\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":11139,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11116\/revisions\/11139"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=11116"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=11116"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.goonerholicsforever.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=11116"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}