Premier League side, Arsenal, are through to the UEFA Champions League semi-final after the Gunners completed the double over dethroned champions, Real Madrid, with a 2-1 win at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night.
Goals from Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli means Arsenal maintain the unbeaten record over Real Madrid, who finally scored a first goal against the North Londoners in four competitive meetings in what proved to be a mere consolation goal in the end.
Trailing 3-0 from the first leg last week, Real Madrid started the game with urgency following the hype ahead of the second leg and had the ball in the net after two minutes, but the goal was ruled out as Kylian Mbappe was offside.
Despite Madrid’s bright start, Arsenal were composed in their play and soon started probing the Real Madrid defence, leading to referee Francois Letexier making a delayed decision to award a penalty to the visitors after Raul Asencio dragged Mikel Merino down.
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However, Saka’s attempted penanka from the resultant spot kick was saved by Thibaut Courtois, firing up the Madrid players to stay the course of securing an unlikely comeback, which looked set to gain momentum after Letexier awarded Los Blancos a penalty midway through the first half.
The decision, given after Declan Rice was adjudged to have brought down Mbappe in the area, would then be reviewed over the next five minutes with VAR eventually overturning the decision while Rice’s booking – which would have ruled him out for the semi-final first leg – was also chalked off.
Following a dramatic but goalless first half, Madrid continued to make most of the runs in the second period while Arsenal showed composure on the ball to keep the home side at bay.
Carlo Ancelotti brought on Dani Ceballos and Endrick for Rodrygo and Lucas Vazquez on the hour mark as Madrid made a triple substitution in search of the needed goals to achieve a remontada, but what followed in the next four minutes rocked the entire stadium.
First, the Bernabeu was stunned to silence when a neat interchange of passes released Saka who met a Merino pass into the area with a perfectly timed run to beat the offside trap and dink over Courtois for the opener after 65 minutes.
At 4-0 on aggregate, Arsenal looked set to coast into the semis, only for a lapse in concentration from William Saliba, to spring the Bernabeu back to life a minute later as the French defender was robbed of possession by Vinicius Jr. who tapped into an empty goal with David Raya out of position.
Despite the setback, Arsenal continued to keep Real Madrid at bay and with the clock winding down, a short clearance from Jakub Kiwior found Merino, who moved forward before sending Martinelli through on goal to seal the win for the visitors.