Arsenal's Brazilian midfielder #11 Gabriel Martinelli celebrates with Arsenal's English midfielder #41 Declan Rice scoring his team's second goal during the UEFA Champions League quarter final second leg football match between Real Madrid CF and Arsenal at Santiago Bernabeu Stadium in Madrid on April 16, 2025. (Photo by JAVIER SORIANO / AFP)
Madrid: Arsenal knocked out holders Real Madrid with a 2-1 win in Spain on Wednesday, with Mikel Arteta's side having completed a 5-1 aggregate victory and setting up a Champions League semi-final against Paris Saint-Germain.
Bukayo Saka gave Arsenal the lead in the second half after having an early penalty saved before Vinicius Junior struck for Madrid.
The London side looked compact defensively throughout the entire game and were able to mitigate Madrid's threats for large swathes of the game.
The whole world watched in anticipation, and some with hope of a Los Blancos 'remontada', and those hopes were nearly squashed when a 13th minute penalty went Arsenal's way after a clumsy Raúl Asencio tackle inside the box.
Bukayo Saka was given the duty and blundered the chance after a soft dinked attempt was palmed away by Courtois.
It spurred Real Madrid on and soon they had a penalty of their own, when Mbappe came down in the area after Declan Rice tussled with him.
However, a lengthy VAR review saw referee Letexier take a second look and then deciding Arsenal's two-goal first leg hero Rice was had not fouled the French superstar in the penalty area.
David Raya, the Arsenal goalkeeper, did not need to make a save in the first half, while Madrid's Courtois stopped three shots.
Much of the second half played out the same, with Madrid pressing without any real threat, and Arsenal putting on a compact defensive display.
Arsenal's Norwegian captain Martin Ødegaard linked with teammate Merino, who played through Saka in behind the Madrid defense and the Englishman made up for his penalty blunder with a now better executed dinked finish.
Arsenal defender William Saliba, perhaps overtaken with elated euphoria from being four goals up on Madrid, was caught not concentrating on the edge of his box, and Vinicius Junior stole the ball away and punted it past out-of-position Raya's reach and into the net for the equaliser, which came two minutes after Saka's opener.
Madrid's increasingly slim hopes were all but exhausted when Mbappe limped off with an ankle problem with 15 minutes remaining.
Those hopes were eventually extinguished after Gabriel Martinelli scored a late winner with two minutes left of stoppage time, this one being set up by Merino for his second personal assist of the game, breaking the hearts of the Madrid fans at the Santiago Bernabeau, and easing Arsenal into their first semi-final appearance in Europe's top club competition since 2009.
[With inputs from AFP]
