Declan Rice with Kylian Mbappe
Arsenal News Arsenal opinion

Brilliant Arsenal knock out Real Madrid in style with 2-1 win

(Photo by Angel Martinez/Getty Images)

Arsenal secured a 2-1 victory against Real Madrid at the Bernabéu this evening, completing a commanding 5-1 aggregate win over the Spanish giants and sealing a place in the Champions League semi-finals.

Gunners fans had been dreaming of a night reminiscent of their last visit to Madrid in a Champions League knockout tie, when Thierry Henry scored the only goal to secure a famous win.

In the Spanish capital, there was a belief that if Liverpool could overturn a three-goal deficit against Barcelona in 2019, Madrid could do the same against Arsenal. That belief fuelled a frenetic start, with the hosts pushing hard for an early breakthrough. However, the Gunners remained largely unshaken.

The confident visitors had the perfect opportunity to open the scoring early, but Bukayo Saka’s tame penalty was comfortably saved by Thibaut Courtois. That miss appeared to energise Madrid, who then had a penalty awarded to them, only for VAR to overturn the decision moments later.

Arsenal may have looked overly assured for a side only recently returning to the Champions League, but with a 3-0 cushion from the first leg, their self-belief was understandable.

For much of the first half, it was Arsenal who looked like the team chasing the win. Their persistence paid off shortly after the interval, when Saka made amends for his earlier miss by calmly slotting home the opening goal.

Saka scoring against Real Madrid
(Photo by David Ramos/Getty Images)

Madrid responded almost immediately, capitalising on a rare error from William Saliba that allowed Vinícius Júnior to equalise and give the home fans renewed hope.

Despite the setback, Arsenal’s composure remained intact. They continued to dominate key phases of play and created more chances than many had anticipated, especially against the most decorated side in the tournament’s history.

Their bravery was ultimately rewarded when Gabriel Martinelli fired home the winner, silencing the Bernabéu and confirming Arsenal’s progression.

The Gunners showed little fear in a venue that has seen countless comebacks and European triumphs, and for that, they were justly rewarded.

Posted by

Tags Real Madrid v Arsenal Match Report

87 Comments

  1. OMG
    I’m soooooooooo happy
    I’m over the moon
    I almost cried tears of happiness
    Not only did we win at home
    We won in Madrid
    Semi-Finals here we come

    COYG

    1. me too! I was so nervous and the clock seemed to be going so slowly. I have lost my voice from screaming and the pets are terrified! COYG

      1. Wow! So a mazing the gunners to have that historic win. I am more than confident that we shall win champions League trophy eventually

  3. Damn. That’s the record gone.

    Real Ma-bloody-drid have scored against Arsenal now. After all these decades of never conceding against that lot 🙁

    C’mon lads, what were you thinking? The club’s history, ruined! Ruined I tell you!

      1. Thanks Sue, glad someone understands irony (mentioning no names, but don’t look below).

  4. What a performance. Seasons over we have no chance they said! We won both legs, my word and domianted them 5-1! Missed a pen and gave them a free goal too. Nearly every player deserves praise but I wanted to shout out Jakob Kiwior. When we couldn’t move him on in the summer I said at least we have the best 8th choice defender in the league, with the emergence of Skelly he went down to 9th. He’s come in against Real Madrid over 2 legs and done the job. Let’s be honest we basically kept two clean sheets because that Saliba mistake was a freak moment. Enjoy your night gooners! Bring on PSG!

    2. Kiwior was great – thought he was the best defender on the pitch with the possible exception of timber. He looked comfortable with everything.

  5. I thought we would see Haram football from Arteta Bin Laden.

    Overall great performance over a weak Madrid side with Partey collecting a stupid yellow being the only dent. Give him a contract ASAP

    Rice MOTM by far

    1. It’s not a weak Madrid stop this nonsense. They are 2nd in La liga 4 points of Barca with 7 games still to play they could still win it. They lost Kroos (35) and added Mbappe from the CL winning team last year. They had better season last year yes but they are not bad.

  6. Can anyone tell me how Rudiger was still on the pitch? That’s every single match he tries to injure players. He gets away with it most of the times. That foot on Skelly was on purpose.

    1. yes indeed, the man have no ethics, its the same with all the madrid players cheap theatrics that includes diving, pulling players down, obviously the kicks. alaba’s flip on saka, it was horrible.

  7. Madrid were what Arsenal have been accused of regularly – toothless in the face of an organised Arsenal team in a highly charged away game
    Magnificent performances with Rice doubling up on his MOTM from a week ago
    The Rice post match interview was fulsome in his praise of Arteta and the whole Arsenal team – players and management alike
    Brilliant

    2. Absolutely. The team is clearly playing for the manager, and you can see how much he loves the club. That alone should send a strong message to all the “Arteta out” crowd nonsense —he has built something special, and the players believe in him.

      This season, Arsenal have faced some really tough challenges—numerous injuries, harsh red cards, and constant criticism. Despite all that, the team has shown real resilience, much different than in the past two seasons. They have learned to keep pushing through the difficult moments. With smart and well-planned spending in the summer, I truly believe they are on the verge of achieving something big next season.

      1. Great points. Arsenal have a great team ethic and character that has been evident for a long time. It has been pointed out to some of the regular naysayers that Arsenal are one of the best out of possession teams in world football. We have a tactically sound manager, one of the best in the world. These kind of performances are also due to effective man management which is regularly derided by so-called Arsenal fans.
        We still need to win the major titles and this remains the ultimate goal. However, people need to respect what has built up to now.

  8. Excellent tactics from Arteta, the coaches and the players. Great solo goal from one of the most talented and skilled LWs in the world, Martinelli

    Reaching UCL semifinal is already an achievement for Arsenal this season, because of the bad injuries

    I’m sure we can defeat PSG, because they’d likely be as open as the Madrid’s finest

  9. Declan Rice might have produced the best European performance I have seen from an Arsenal player

  10. Our defense was really great apart the error from Saliba. Rice the best midfielder in the world currently, Merino has been a revelation 2 wonderful assists tonight. Partey stupid yellow but was excellent again. Both Saka and Martineli are getting back to their best, they’ve really improved our attack. Odegard no comment

  11. I’m buzzing right now.

    The only down side now is Partey missing the first leg at home against PSG.

  12. Can someone explain this? Whenever partey gets the ball the opponents slow down and he gets the ball into acres of space either to safety or for an attack.

    He plays such simple and intelligent football I am left mesmerised everytime.

    But this stupid guy got a yellow card for no reason. Now who tf replaces him against psg. Man

      1. Murt,

        Sadly your mistaken. Partey is suspended for the first leg.

        But Rice for instance will have the yellow card hanging over him wiped as will anyone else on a yellow card.

        I believe the rule was brought in because players were missing the final using the old system. So the new rule was brought in.

        1. Yikes. Thank you for the update Derek. I was unaware. Disappointing for Party. Explains the Rice annoyance with him.

        2. I do believe even Rice who was one booking away from missing the next game, is wiped now. If he receives a yellow in the “next” game, he will not be suspended. Thats a plus.

  14. Congratulations everyone of you Gooners wherever you are! What was that void word Bellingham heard million times this week? Not for the Gunners! Well done Arteta and his boys! You made us so proud! Destination Munich!

  15. The positive. Tactics spot on in both games, Rice, off the planet!!!!!! Kiwior did well, two assists from Merino and MLS (class) never let us down, in fact 100% the opposite. Look Real are not the scary dogs, people making them out to be but they have great players, just not a great team. The minus, Odergaard was very poor and Partey🤬 what an absolute idiot. Saliba doesn’t usually make stupid errors but it isn’t the first time this season, a bit lapsidasical. Well done all for a fantastic quarters win. And no silly, slowing the game down and silly back passes when a ball can be played forwards, we looked forwards and tried to win.

      1. Most people listening to him thinks he was commenting shit, even the neutrals can’t help but wonder.

  18. Absolutely fantastic performance from everyone involved in tonight’s win !

    Shame some of the Madrid fans can’t handle the loss, setting on the Arsenal fans 🙄

      1. What are you chatting about lol
        I write for this site daily whatever the result unlike you who’s literally shown up when we beat Real Madrid
        Already submitted my article
        Tomorrow I’ll be doing our weekly predictions game
        I bet if we lost tonight you wouldn’t be commenting ?

      2. No they are not. They have strong opinions and tell it as they see it. No more shameless than yourself.

        1. Still don’t know what he’s talking about
          I literally predicted we win first leg and never made prediction for tonight’s game

          Think it’s sad ( and a bit creepy ) that we have one of our best ever European results and fans first thoughts are strangers on an internet

    2. Maybe he left the site ?
      Oh no that was you last week lol
      So wait a moment ….

      Arsenal don’t win … You leave .
      We win …..your now back
      Tells you everything

  20. Arteta masterclass over the two legs, and each individual game – this will go down in history of Arsenal greats

  21. Watching the limited highlights- credit should also go to Merino for making the passes for those goals

  22. Arteta and his coaching staff are genius to topple Madrid in this disgraceful way at their backyards. Only series of unfortunate matters made the EPL title to slip away from Arsenal. We come back to it next season earnestly. With this African inspired BLACK KIT Arsenal never lost a match. Good omen. COYG!

  23. But the manner of the big game big tie win. A mature performance. A streetwise performance. Players physically and mentally stronger in their duels.

    You can never be sure in the moment, but maybe looking back upon a watershed for this teams journey together.

  24. This is Arsenal’s year.
    Let’s continue doing it the way we’ve been doing it.

    Partey will be a big miss against PSG but I believe we have enough to get something from that game.
    Was a silly yellow tbh.

  25. What a performance, what a win! I’m super excited we are into the semifinals. Till then our attention turns to Ipswich Town. COYG!

  26. It’s a win, simple. Partey stupid? Rudieger was not supposed to be on that pitch. It is what it is.

    On to PSG

    1. Yellow cards in the 2025 Champions League reset after the quarterfinals. The bookings are not carried over to the semifinals or the final

      1. Ahmed,

        I’m afraid your wrong. The cards are wiped in the Semi-Finals and not the quartet-Finals.

        The cards never used to be wiped, but it was changed to the Semi-Finals because you had the situations where some big name players missed the finals. Hence the rule change regarding Yellow cards being wiped in the Semi-Finals. 😉👍

  27. Shouldn’t be a surprise really – Arsenal’s had plenty of practice destroying teams in white.

    Any Tottenham fans around? 👀

    1. All key players should still put in extra effort for the next two EPL games, to secure the second place in the league and to prevent rustiness before PSG come

    3. Dan,
      The result against Brentford was disappointing but not to give all the players who were going to Spain a run out would not be the best solution to maintaining impetus, imo, particularly as Liverpool were in a pretty much unassailable position in the league. So it was in effect a dead rubber.

      Finishing as high as we can in the league is still important not only for club morale but to show intent for next season.

  29. Had this match been reffed by epl ref Saka never misses a penalty for it was not a pen for them. Madrid pen stands. Arteta sent to stands for dissent. End result Madrid v PSG at SFs.

  30. Let’s not go there today. It was a great win achieved by fairly outplaying a playing a power house club over two legs. Great atmosphere, team spirit and pride from our team.

  31. What a night for Arteta’s Arsenal, simply outstanding! A perfect performance over 2 legs to dump out the European champions in their back yard! 😀 a great chance to reach the final since we last made it in 2006, PSG showed they have weaknesses and crumble under pressure, Villa were so close to turning them over, let’s hope for more of the same, UP THE GUNNERS!

  32. Woke up Thursday in buoyant mood. I loved high profile uk newspapers esp DM today are inundated with Arsenal heroics. Redemption ARSENAL season. Arteta to face again his former team PSG. The best is yet to come. This is the beginning of golden years ahead with Arteta as the team shall definitely be bolstered this summer. Wow Arsenal. COYG!

  33. Woke up Thursday in buoyant mood. I loved high profile uk newspapers esp DM today are inundated with Arsenal heroics. Redemption ARSENAL season. Arteta to face again his former team PSG. The best is yet to come. This is the beginning of golden years ahead with Arteta as the team shall definitely be bolstered this summer. Silenced the SB crowd as well as the fifth columnist doubters and failure poachers inside Arsenal. Wow Arsenal. COYG!

  34. a poor report on an arsenal fans website. The actual game was dramatic, an excellent performance and wholey deserved with stellar performances throughout. The power and energy of Rice, skills of Saka, guile of Merino. Quality of Partey, Timber, Kiwior and MLS. Yes and Martinelli having the last word. Best night in years for Arsenal.

  36. We have now made the grade in terms of a winning mentality and while PSG are a stronger side than RM, as Villa proved earlier this week, they are not unbeatable.Timber, Rice and Partey are as good as any in their positions in Europe, and Kwior deserves special recognition for proving so many fans wrong,myself included.The fact that he is now match fit and more confident has brought his quality to the surface and has given our Manager a dilemma as to whether he can still be part of his plans for next season.As for Real Madrid,any side which depends on a thug like Rudiger no longer has my respect.In the incident that led to the Partey booking,the look on the face of a once great player, Modric at the antics of his German teammate was one of embarrassment.

  37. The Arteta out brigade will be fuming with that performance and result, but such joy for the rest of us!

    Absolutely dominated them in both legs, and they only scored because we gifted them one. Brilliant!

  38. Can I come out from behind the sofa now.😂

    What a performance by the team. They’ve been simply superb over the two legs.

    For me the only two things that were wrong with last night was the daft Saka penalty, and Saliba thinking he had all day on the ball for their goal.

    But other than that, Saliba marshalled the Madrid strikers with consummate ease, and then Saka did manage to score a different version of a Panenka.

    Now I’d just like to say that I haven’t been completely convinced by Kiwior or Merino, but I must admit I’m warming to them. I hope they keep proving me wrong and long may it continue.

    Its a shame that Partey is suspended for the first game against PSG, but thank goodness that Rice’s card was rescinded, otherwise we would have lost him to.

    And just a word about the Semi-Final, I think that we can all agree that the PSG team that we’ll be taking on will be a different one to the one we beat in the group stage.

    But that said, if we can play to the same level as the two Madrid games, then anything is possible.

    In a couple of posts yesterday, I asked Arsenal to show me that they had the character to see the Madrid game through, and I’m delighted that they more than answered my question.

    📢Up the Gunners.

    Well done boys, keep it going.🤣👍🏆

  39. One of our overall best European displays ever and we have reached the semifinals of CL, which we have managed only two times before 🔴⚪️🫶

    Now everything is possible, but it wants be easy against Enrique’s PSG. COYG

Comments are closed

Top Blog Sponsors