Arsenal's magnificent, memorable, stunning night here in Madrid
Arsenal beat Real Madrid 2-1 in a fevered Bernabeu to complete a stunning 5-1 aggregate victory banishing hopes of a ridiculous remontada after a night for the ages
Hola, after a memorable night in Madrid
It’s the morning after the night before, following one of the finest performances and results in Arsenal’s history.
To win in the mighty Bernabeu, against a side loaded with attacking threats, amid a fevered atmosphere, with a storied club pushing a relentless psychological war before kick-off, without a recognised striker, nor 50 per cent of the finest centre-back partnership in Europe simply beggars belief.
Not to mention serving a test of nerve, staying strong and showing courage against the wall of noise that came from the pre-match Tifo display, with the majority of the 80,000 crowd whipped up to a point of frenzy at kick-off, and at various stages of a gripping contest, in an atmosphere so loud, and so impassioned, it sounded as if a plane was taking off right in front of you, as the adrenaline lashed as hard as the pre-match rain in Madrid.
All the while, with the tremendous support coming from up in the gods from more than 3,000 Gooners, acting as a clarion call to those from North London on and off the pitch, as Arsenal stalled the home side’s momentum, before, ultimately subduing such a hostile crowd with two fantastic goals.
All week here in the bustling Spanish capital, I’ve had to listen to people tell me that Real Madrid would knock Arsenal out and complete the remontada because it’s the Bernabeu. “Si se suede,” the Madridistias chanted beforehand. (Yes, we can). No they didn’t.
Because, quite simply, myths and legends don’t win you games against Mikel Arteta’s mighty Arsenal these days after an utterly magnificent performance for the ages.
Where’s your remontada now?
And to think the victory came on the back of last week’s incredible result.
Whatever our disappointments when assessing our Premier League travails, these are truly incredible times to be an Arsenal supporter.
To be there at the Bernabeu, 19 long years on from Thierry Henry’s never-to-be-forgotten triumph, was to witness history being written once again.
But first the agony. How agonising it was to watch Bukayo Saka - our Bukayo Saka, our loveable, Hale End graduate, who is now the face of Arsenal across the world - not least because every scarf you saw outside the Bernabeu that had anything to do with red and white, included Saka’s face, or name - miss his early penalty. A poor Panenka, that fed our anxiety still further.
Yet the football gods chose to favour us, when French referee Francois Letexier opted to give another penalty, this time to Real Madrid, and hand a caution to Declan Rice, who had been grappling with Kylian Mbappe, which would have ruled the influential midfielder out of any semi-final.
But no-one was thinking about the last four at that point, because, Real Madrid were about to go 1-0 up, with two thirds of the game still to be played.
However, VAR, in its infinite wisdom, reversed the offence, and Arsenal lived to fight on, in a performance that saw Saka’s redemption, not to mention neat interplay between that pillar of attack, Mikel Merino, whose through ball was as equisite as anything the Bernabeu had ever seen, as our Starboy lifted the ball over an onrushing Courtois and into the net, to speak scenes of deep joy on the pitch, and high off in the thundering coliseum that is the Bernabeu.
That was prior to Marintelli outpacing and outpouring the Madrid backline to slot home in the third minute of injury time to seal victory, to make it 2-1 on the night, an improbable 5-1 on aggregate, to also see that Arsenal’s head to head with the night Madrid now reads: Played 4, Won 2, Drawn 2, Lost: A big fat zero. And to think I’ve had the privilege of watching all four, the first two as a fan, the latter two from the press box.
(As an aside, it felt fitting that last night was my 50th Arsenal men’s first team game of the season out of 50.)
2-1 in the Bernabeu…
All of which now means, Arsenal, Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal are two games from the final of the Champions League, three from actually lifting the trophy I’ve wanted to win since I knew what the cup with the big ears was about as a kid.
Our forthcoming trip to Paris in the spring will only be the club’s third semi-final in this tournament, after the crushing disappointment of losing to a Ronaldo and Rooney inspired Manchester United back in 2009, and easing past Villarreal in 2006, Jens Lehmann saving Riquelme’s last-minute penalty, not to mention the Highbury squirrel in the first leg, and all.
It’s absolutely incredible to think the state the club was in when Mikel Arteta took over.
Riven by cliques, and underperformers, chancers and wasters.
The revolution the Basque-born boss has undertaken since then has been astonishing.
So, to attend Arteta’s post-match press conference in the luxurious, as well as cavernous Real Madrid media room, with its vast number of plush cream seats, as the Spanish media lapped up every word he said, laced with dignity, modesty, articulacy and intelligence (in two languages of course) as the boss effortlessly switched between eloquence in English as well as his native tongue, all the while pushing the team ethic, while possessing a steely eyed determination to do better to progress, to make us dream, even as the clock neared midnight, after a long and gruelling day, and week, and season, while extolling the virtues of all of his men, Bukayo Saka, Declan Rice, and Mikel Merino (who intriguingly the Spanish press were most interested in) well, it simply made me proud.
It felt like the start of something, but also the end.
For, to see the legendary Carlo Ancelotti speak with such grace about Arsenal, conceding that Arteta’s side has “been better than us,” as well as serenely discuss his future, against the most hostile of inquisitors as the Spanish press invariably is, when a manger fails, was to see a legend in action.
I still recall a modest Ancelotti refusing to stick the knife into Arsene Wenger, after his then Bayern Munich team has just beaten Arsenal 5-1 at the Emirates nearly 10 years ago, to go with humiliating the Gunners 5-1 in Munich. I had covered both ties, and quite frankly was sick to death of such Teutonic dominance, yet, speaking in the Arsenal media room, after the second 5-1, Ancelotti was an empathetic and as sensitive as a manger could be to a fellow colleague in such a cutthroat business.
And I never forgot his refusal to stick the boot in.
Because Ancelotti, more than most, knows the vagaries of the ridiculous game we all love, and hate, and are obsessed by, and last night, in the bowels of the Bernabeu, with the local journalists scenting blood, he showed his class and dignity by saying whatever happens in his future (the sack, soon enough) the legendary boss said when he does leave: “The only thing that I do is will be grateful to this club…”
Never mind anything on Netflix, this was compelling drama in its own right.
On a memorable night in Madrid.
My newspaper report from the Bernabeu press box
Real Madrid 1-2 Arsenal (1-5 on aggregate): Report by Layth Yousif at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu
Second half goals from Bukayo Saka and Gabi Martinell were enough to achieve the result Arsenal required to visit Paris in the spring, as Mikel Arteta’s magnificent side beat Real Madrid 2-1 to reach the last four of the Champions League, where they will now play PSG.
For when it came down to it, the Spanish aristocrats failed to achieve their much-spoken about remontada, amid, it has to be said, the flailing noise around their utterly self-inflated opinion of their underwhelming team.
Because, quite simply myths and legends don’t win you games against Arteta’s mighty Arsenal these days after an utterly magnificent performance for the ages.
The noise had barely died down from the tremendous pre-match Tifo when a shocking challenge on Bukayo Saka resulted in a yellow card for David Alana from referee Francois Letexier, who Arsenal were hoping was going to be strong in the cauldron that is the Bernabeu.
The French referee certainly showed the cojones Los Blancos’ boss Carlo Ancelotti spoke about in his pre-match press conference on 11 minutes, when Letexier awarded a spot-kick to the visitors after Asensio pulled Mikel Merino during Declan Rice’s corner into a crowded box.
Up stepped Bukayo Saka, but to the delight of the cacophonous Bernabeu, the 23-year-old dinked his kick, with a poor Paneka-style effort, which allowed the diving Thibaut Courtois to reach the ball with his left hand, to palm the ball away. Much to the agony of the distraught Saka, and the 5,000 travelling Gooners in the away end and dotted around the stadium.
As if the thunderous noise levels at the Bernabeu couldn’t get any louder, referee Letexier awarded a penalty to Real Madrid on 23 minutes, after Rice was adjudged to have Kylian Mbappe, with the Gunners midfielder booked for his troubles.
Yet, after an inordinate time pondering Letexier’s decision, VAR overturned the award, this time much to the delight of the visiting support.
In such a fevered auditorium, the half time statistics that showed Madrid failed to have a shot on goal, and only 15 touches in their opponents box, was testament more to the mystique of the Bernabeu, and the crowd that were convinced their heroes were to achieve the much-spoken about remontada.
With the Gunners 45 minutes away from a semi-final date with Paris in the spring we were about to find out.
The Gunners came out after the interval with their continued positive mindset, with Rice sending a free-kick into the box for Merino, who headed over. The can-do attitude also underlined by Arteta on the sidelines urging Raya to start an attack immediately after the Gunners keeper gathered from Vinicus Jnr, shortly afterwards.
With the majestic gladiatorial animosity between Rice and Bellingham nearly bubbling over, the contest was at crucial stage, when Saka broke into the box after a sublime through ball from Mikel Merino, to fire past Courtois and put the Gunners 1-0 ahead on 65 minutes.
However, just as the hordes of Gunners fans massed high up in the gods were still celebrating, Madrid levelled through Vinicius Jnr a mere 120 seconds later to make it 1-1 on the night, 4-1 on aggregate - even if the gap did not feel as big as it looked on paper - or on the scoreboard on Bernabeu’s extremely large surround sound TV screens that hung over the pitch.
Not when the mystical, mythical Bernabeu still had a say in proceedings. Yet, it was the visitors who made their mark, when Gabi Martinelli broke through in the third minute of injury time to make it 2-1 to the Arsenal and 5-1 on aggregate to underline that myths and legends don’t win football matches against this Arsenal side.
Speaking after the match, Arteta said: “I’m so happy, I think it's the third time in our history, so I have to be very proud to be there again. The team has shown incredible ambition, courage and willingness to compete against any opposition. It's not only the fact that we are there, I think it's the manner in which we've done it, both in London and here in Madrid, so I’m really proud of the players.”