By Admin 
Two legs, two wins, and a place in the semifinals of the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 2009. Five goals scored, just one conceded and Real Madrid, European royalty, silenced.
This was the coming of age for Arsenal, played out in high definition with the world watching in awe.
Real has shown structural weaknesses throughout the season, but the irregular pressing and gaping holes in the midfield were masked by moments of individual brilliance from an array of stars: from Antonio Rudiger at the back to Kylian Mbappe up front via Jude Bellingham and Vinicius Junior.
But when Mikel Arteta’s men came in all guns blazing, Real had no reply and was left second-guessing everything, even in its own backyard.
And yet, a week ago, this was expected to be a contest between mismatched teams, not on the pitch but in terms of experience. It was pipped as a contest between a group of players fighting against the odds for its first major trophy versus one where winning titles has become second nature.
In the end, one team played like it was in a pursuit of numbers while the other showed that the greater joy was in pursuing memories. And for Arteta, this is a legacy-minting exercise, the most striking chapter in his Arsenal genesis a little more than five years ago.
A domestic title here and there has barely held back fans’ desire for Premier League and European glory. Arsenal came close several times, but it always remained the bridesmaid, never the bride.
While success in the league might have to wait another year, there could yet be unheralded joy at the continental level.
London’s midfield maestro
In nine seasons as a professional footballer, across 338 matches for Arsenal and West Ham and 64 for England, Declan Rice had never found the back of the net from a free kick. Against Real at the Emirates, he broke the duck. And like a magician repeating a trick for good measure to a spellbound audience, he did it again 12 minutes later.
Rice had decided to defy Arsenal set-piece coach Nico Jover’s calls for a cross because, even in the heat of the moment, he calculated all possibilities and figured out which move had the maximum xG. Or so he made it sound.
“Originally, we were gonna cross it, like reverse cross. It didn’t make sense from that angle to cross the ball. And they were on a high line, to chip that it would have to be such a delicate pass. I just thought, go for it,” he said after the first leg.
It wasn’t a lucky strike or an ungodly deflection that did it, but calculated moves that saw the flight of the ball leave the indefatigable Thibaut Courtois looking clueless. It was rather fitting that the TV cameras immediately panned to former Real and Brazil great Roberto Carlos in the crowd, for such was the precision of Rice’s twin strikes.
THE GIST
The Spaniards hoped for la remontada all week, and yet, the greatest comeback of all came from Saka.
In the end, Arsenal’s win was a triumph of system over individual power, of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts.
Despite Rice’s sublime free-kicks, the 26-year-old’s best attributes are in midfield, where he hassles and hurries opponents out of possession and sets the pace for his team.
When Mikel Arteta’s men came in all guns blazing, Real had no reply and was left second-guessing everything, even in its own backyard.
Rice ‘cooked’ twice. And it couldn’t taste sweeter.
Despite the sublime free kicks, the 26-year-old’s best attributes are in the midfield, where he hassles and hurries opponents out of possession and sets the pace for his team with his drive when on the ball.
In the cauldron that is the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium, whose intimidating aura has blanked a plethora of world-class stars, Rice showed that he was a cut above the rest. He provided the shield that kept an increasingly desperate Real Madrid at bay.
Declan Rice of Arsenal is challenged by Kylian Mbappe of Real Madrid during their UEFA Champions League 2024/25 quarterfinal second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu on April 16, 2025 in Madrid, Spain.
| Photo Credit:
Getty Images
The most telling moment of the contest, across both legs, came when the £105 million man left Mbappe, Los Blancos’ crown jewel, in a heap on the floor, duly forcing his substitution. And as the Frenchman limped his way out, so did his team’s hopes.
“It’s such a special night for this club. A historic night. We want to win this competition,” Rice confidently said after wrapping up the win in Madrid. In its current form, not many would bet against the north London side going all the way.
A tale of twos
Being handed the ball for a pressure penalty with his team’s fortunes on the line? Bukayo Saka has been there before, as a 19-year-old whose missed spotkick saw Italy beat England to win the Euro 2020.
Four years later, he confidently picked up the ball again, this time hoping to put daylight between Arsenal and Real Madrid. He saw an audacious Panenka chip easily saved by Courtois, prompting the boisterous Spanish crowd to take up the decibel levels a few notches.
Real Madrid’s goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois blocks Arsenal’s Bukayo Saka’s shots from the penalty spot during the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu in Madrid on April 16, 2025.
| Photo Credit:
AFP
“I didn’t want to die but maybe I wanted to slap him! He made that decision, he was bold enough to do it. I was more concerned about the emotional part, what it could do for us,” Arteta later said, speaking of his emotions in the aftermath of that penalty miss.
On another day, this could have been the turning point of another famous Real Madrid comeback, on which ballads would have been written. But this wasn’t regularly scheduled programming.
And Saka? He isn’t the easily frustrated teenager anymore, but a perfectionist who leads by example. When skipper Martin Odegaard and Mikel Merino combined to release Saka into the box, he did the unthinkable — attempt another chip, this time beating Courtois and nestling the back of the net.
The Spaniards hoped for la remontada all week, and yet, the greatest comeback of all came from Saka. Or his left boot, to be precise.
“We saw all the stuff that was going on social media, saying they were going to come back… but we’ve been able to show our mentality. We should be proud,” the 23-year-old remarked after the win with a grin.
The future is now
Over the years, when Arsenal struggled to compete with the financial might of Manchester City or the ingenuity of Liverpool domestically, Saka offered fans the hope of a brighter future. The comprehensive win against Real Madrid has underlined that the future is now and it was well worth the wait.
“It’s another massive step. The way we have done it, it’s incredible,” Arteta said after the game. His counterpart, Carlo Ancelotti, conceded that Real Madrid were second-best across both legs. “There are no excuses. In the two games, they were better than us. We did everything we could.”
The most striking image from this contest will remain Saka silencing the Bernabeu crowd, 19 years after Thierry Henry did the same. Almost like tradition, a seminal moment whose details will be gleefully passed on from one generation to another.
In the end, Arsenal’s win was a triumph of system over individual power, of the whole being greater than the sum of its parts. This resolute, street-smart and well-drilled team is, for the first time since the Invincibles, striking fear in its opponents.
This will go down as Arsenal’s greatest night in the Champions League. For now.
Published – April 17, 2025 07:32 pm IST