Arsenal prove true Champions League contender status in dismantling of mighty Real Madrid

They were right, 90 minutes is a long time in the Santiago Bernabeu. Still, even if VAR had elongated this to 390 minutes, it would not have been anywhere near long enough for Real Madrid to scramble their way back into a tie that was rent from them by Declan Rice eight days ago.

If Arsenal weren’t going to give it to Madrid, the champions were never going to get it for themselves. Had it not been for William Saliba playing with the insouciance of a man whose side were 4-0 up against Real Madrid, the Gunners would have made it four clean sheets on the spin against this most august of opponents.

When Vinicius Junior pounced and when the Bernabeu began to hope again, that was when you saw what Arsenal were made of. For 15 minutes, maybe more, nothing happened. Or at least nothing that in any way enhanced the prospect of a remontada that even before the game looked more like a wish than a real prospect.

Rice intercepted, bullied and drove up the field. Myles Lewis-Skelly shaped to go one way and yet again his defender bought it. Jakub Kiwior, the supposed weak link, was doing headed keepy-uppies to work the ball back to David Raya.

As for the man who had silenced the Spanish capital, Bukayo Saka, who would be perfectly entitled to take it easy given the slog of even getting back to fitness in time for these games, he was back in his own penalty area intercepting an attempted through ball. Suffice to say, you didn’t see any of Madrid’s famed front three doing such dirty work.

Not until Endrick’s drive wide in the 91st minute did Madrid create their first half-decent effort of the night, the first occasion Arsenal were cut through by the other team’s excellence since Jude Bellingham sent Kylian Mbappe through with half an hour at the Emirates.

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This was a triumph of system over individual power. For five years, Mikel Arteta has been building a side who don’t just defend as a unit but relish doing so. The talk of the remontada never seemed to get to them. There was a plan to beat Madrid and they applied it.

Arsenal were at ease dropping into their 4-4-2 block and giving up the flanks, backing the outstanding Jurrien Timber and Lewis-Skelly in their one one-on-one draws. When Madrid turned the ball over, as they did often, Gabriel Martinelli was ready to spring out. 

He was not leading mad breakaways and wouldn’t get carried away by the sight of goal until he was flying through to win the game. More often than not, he was prepared to take his time, to get Arsenal established in the final third where they could pick at an undermanned opposition backline.

Leave the penalties to one side and this game was Arsenal’s. When they needed to get the away end ole-ing they were able to do that, taking the air out of a ground that was supposed to scare the life out of them.

They were aided by a hapless opponent. From the moment their penalty that never should have been was overturned, the hosts lost any sense of what they intended to do in attack. Cross after cross flew into the box, aimed at, umm? Perhaps going for the easy option of lobbing it into the mixer makes sense. After all, on the basis of these games, their plan to progress the ball through midfield seems to be convincing Toni Kroos to come out of retirement.

Eight games left in this season and Carlo Ancelotti, the great star whisperer, still has not managed to find a system in which Mbappe and Vinicius can be at least the sum of their parts.

Madrid’s minds can drift to next season, Arsenal’s will be firmly placed on the now. Paris Saint-Germain will pose a far greater test and the tie itself should be more engaging for the neutrals, the seven-seconds-or-less Phoenix Suns against the 1985 Chicago Bears. Achraf Hakimi and Nuno Mendes will not wave Saka and Martinelli through. Thomas Partey will be missed in the first leg, though Jorginho isn’t to be sniffed at as alternates.

And even if this semifinal goes wrong, it won’t be long before Arsenal are back there. This is a team who have responded to almost every setback the last three years have thrown at them by going better, pushing their rivals further. Only a true banjaxing set of injuries quelled them in the Premier League.

At least some of the cornerstones of this team have their best years ahead of them. Now they will know just how much they can achieve. Any time William Saliba sees anyone question his status as the best center back on the planet, he need only show them the clip of him stepping across Mbappe to turn a close-range shot into a goal kick. Penalty misses seem to bring the best out of Saka, who merely had to wait an hour or so to successfully chip Thibaut Courtois. Rice? Well, he already has a Champions League tie that will go down as the Declan Rice quarterfinals. At 26, he is playing like one of the two or three best midfielders in the world.

Arsenal belong at the top level in a way they have not since the Invincibles broke up. They have delivered the greatest Champions League triumph this club has seen. Or at least, has seen so far.