Arsenal snuffed out any chance of a famous Real Madrid comeback to reach the Champions League semifinals after a 2-1 victory in the Bernabéu Stadium completed a 5-1 aggregate win on Wednesday.
Holders and 15-time winners Real never looked like clawing back a 3-0 deficit from last week’s quarterfinal first leg, and when Bukayo Saka scored for the visitors in the 65th minute, their fate was effectively sealed.
Vinícius Júnior seized on a rare defensive slip a couple of minutes later to rouse the home crowd, but it proved too little, too late as Carlo Ancelotti’s side exited in feeble fashion.
Arsenal’s superiority over the two legs was underlined in stoppage time as Gabriel Martinelli burst through to score.
They will face Paris Saint-Germain in their first Champions League semifinal since 2009.
“I think it’s such a special night for this club, it’s a historic night for this club,” said Arsenal‘s Declan Rice, whose two sublime free kicks last week put his side in control.
“There was a lot of talk coming in about them coming back from the dead. They’ve done it so many times before. But we had so much belief and confidence from that first leg that we had enough to come here and win the game.”
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A cacophony of noise greeted kickoff with the home fans fueled by the hope of witnessing what would have been one of the greatest Champions League comebacks.
But Real’s knack of extricating themselves from difficult positions in a competition they won six times in the previous 11 seasons deserted them as they were comprehensively outplayed.
“Did we fall short of what we wanted in pure football terms? Perhaps,” Real captain Lucas Vázquez said. “They really are terrifically organized defensively.”
Real needed a storming start, and Kylian Mbappé had the ball in the Arsenal net in the opening minutes but was clearly offside when chesting in a Vinícius cross.
Arsenal were in no mood to simply sit and protect their lead, though, and Saka forced a great save from Courtois. They were handed the chance to kill off the tie when Raúl Asencio needlessly hauled down Mikel Merino from a corner, and referee François Letexier eventually awarded a penalty after checking a pitchside VAR monitor.
Saka opted for a Panenka-style chipped penalty, and Real keeper Thibaut Courtois clawed away the ball.
It looked like a potentially pivotal moment, and when Letexier pointed to the penalty spot at the other end after Mbappé tumbled under minimal contact from Rice, Arsenal’s night looked like taking a turn for the worse.
After five painstaking minutes, however, Letexier was again invited by VAR to view the monitor. To a chorus of whistles from the home fans, he overturned his original decision.
That scare aside, Arsenal coped easily with Real Madrid’s famed front line, who were given little to work with.
Arsenal keeper David Raya was not required to make a save before halftime as Real’s predilection for hopeful crosses into the area proved easy pickings for the visiting defense.
Real’s Mbappé barely had a sniff of a chance as Arsenal showed great control and Saka made up for his first-half miss with a clinical finish after being sent clear.
William Saliba gifted Real a lifeline when he was caught in possession on the edge of his area, allowing Vinícius to score, but there was never any sense of panic in the visiting ranks.
Martinelli then put the icing on the cake in added time, sending the Arsenal fans into raptures.
