Key events
37 min “I never normally think this but thank god for VAR!!” writes Mikel Arteta Peter Crosby. “They took ages but it was a difficult call, and they ended up getting it right. It is well disguised by Mbappe but absolutely a dive and just never a penalty. This is what Madrid does – they find some way to get themselves through – no matter what it takes. This would’ve been a super annoying way for them to get back into the game (and I’m a Spurs fan) and for once I’m happy for the VAR intervention.”
36 min David Raya is booked for timewasting. Thirty-six minutes down, 54 to go.
36 min “It’s clear what Real is missing is the world-class ba$tardry of Sergio Ramos,” says Graeme Neill, “primed to give Stone Cold Stunners to Odegaard and Saka and get away with them. (I’m definitely not still bitter about the 2018 Champions League final.)”
35 min An Arsenal free-kick breaks for Timber, who shoots over from the edge of the area.
34 min “I’m in a social club in deepest Northumberland. It has eight TVs and every single one is tuned to the vital Premier League match that is Newcastle v Palace,” says Nick Parish. “I’ve considered asking if just one could be turned over to the Arsenal, but one soft southerner against a couple of dozen passionate Geordies seems bad odds. At least I’ve got you to keep me company. No pistachios here though, sadly.”
Have you looked down the back of the sofa?
32 min Saka finds Odegaard on the edge of the area. He tries to return it to Saka, by now unmarked, but overhits a relatively simple pass. That was a decent chance. Arsenal have a great chance to pick Real Madrid off here; they’re all over the place. But as we know, a Real goal would change everything. Arsenal should be looking to get this done before half-time.
31 min Mbappe, 30 yards ago, whistles a good effort that swerves wide of the far post. Real have been far too emotional in the first half hour. The last 10-20 minutes are the time for that.
29 min “One of the US commentators is making a big deal about the fact that Ødegaard was shaping up to take the penalty before handing it off to Saka,” says Joe Johnson. “To me, it read as an attempt as a ‘mind game’ on Courtois at best, and otherwise nothing much at all. What do you think?”
Yeah, that’s commonplace these days. Somebody else takes the ball to stop the planned taker being sledged or distracted. That said, most teams know who the opposition penalty taker is so in theory Real Madrid’s players could still have got in Saka’s grille.
No penalty!
28 min My word. This referee has steel in his b- well never mind. That means Rice’s yellow card is wiped off as well.
27 min: The referee’s going to the monitor! This is chaos.
27 min They’ve been looking at it for three minutes. They may also be checking an offside against Mbappe.
26 min: VAR check ongoing Rice does put two hands around Mbappe. And while Mbappe made the most of it, I’m not sure this will be overturned.
25 min If the decision stands, Rice will miss the first leg of the semi-final should Arsenal get there.
24 min The ball was tossed into the box and flicked on in the vague direction of Mbappe, who felt Rice’s arm around him and went over. It’s nowhere near as clear as the first one – I don’t think it’s a penalty, in truth – and it’s being checked by VAR.
Penalty to Real Madrid!
23 min Rice is furious, thinks Mbappe has dived, and it’s all kicking off. Rice has been booked as well.
21 min Mbappe fronts Saliba up in the area, then tries to veer outside him. Saliba reads it, gets his body between man and ball and allows it to run behind for a goalkick. That’s majestic defending. If there’s a better centre-half in the world, I’ve not seen him.
20 min Bellingham runs at Timber on the left and fizzes a terrific ball, right across the face. Rodrygo stretches but can’t quite reach it.
19 min “Well, I suppose it Keeps It Alive As A Spectacle,” weeps Charles Antaki. “But Arsenal fans would rather it didn’t, to be frank.”
Thing is, but for the penalty it’s been a superb start for Arsenal. Real look frantic, even desperate, and David Raya’s gloves remain unsullied.
18 min I have no idea what happened with the penalty, whether Saka mishit it or simply had a brainfade. At first I assumed the former – had it gone down the middle he’d have scored – but it was a long way to the left of centre. I’m not sure Bukayo Saka is capable of miskicking the ball that far.
17 min Vinicius Jr runs at Timber and pokes the ball out of play. A corner is given to Real, wrongly I think, and it leads to a spell of pressure in which Lucas Vazquez has two shots blocked. The first, a heatseeker from range, almost knocked the defender (possibly Kiwior) off his feet.
16 min Arsenal need to remind themselves that a) it’s still 3-0 and b) they’ve been the better team so far.
15 min “I love Justin Kavanagh’s work as much as the next man,” writes Mac Millings, “but Jude Bellingham trying to dominate the narrative can be counterproductive, Kylian Mbappe playing like it’s a World Cup Final is only useful if it’s the last 10 minutes, and as for Real channeling their inner Luton Town, well, I guess there are going to be some rare old nights at the likes of Oakwell and Bloomfield Road next season…”
14 min Now Rice is indicating that he’s been hit by something thrown from the crowd. That was a horrible penalty from Saka. The line was about halfway between the centre of the goal and Courtois’ right-hand post. Courtois almost dived past the ball but was able to slap it away with his left hand.
Courtois saves Saka’s penalty!
13 min It was a poor penalty, a Panenka that didn’t go straight down the middle, and Courtois slapped it round the post for a corner.
12 min Bukayo Saka will take the penalty…
12 min Real are fuming but they don’t really have a case. He pulled Merino back, and if you do that you’re asking for trouble.
Penalty to Arsenal!
11 min Raul Asencio pulled Merino back at a Rice corner a couple of minutes ago. The referee was told to go the monitor, and replays showed it was a clear penalty. Asencio is booked.
10 min Lovely play from Rice, who reads and then nicks a pass from Bellingham on the edge of the Arsenal area. He surges forward on the break and finds Saka, who is really close to wriggling away from Tchouameni in the area.
Hang on, there’s a VAR check for an Arsenal penalty.
9 min Incidentally, that Saka shot in the sixth minute was a lot closer than I realised at the time. It would have been a screamer.
8 min Saka beats Alaba with contemptuous ease and curls a low shot from 20 yards that is pushed away to his right by the diving Courtois. That’s a pretty good save, though it wasn’t right in the corner.
Arsenal have started really well, particularly their wide forwards Martinelli and Saka.
7 min Rodrygo beats Lewis-Skelly and crosses from the byline; Saliba heads away. He’s such an important player tonight.
6 min Saka, on the right side of the area, pings a cracking shot with his right foot that fades past the far post. Courtois was certainly worried, though I think it was always going wide.
5 min “Greetings from California, the source of 99% of the country’s pistachio production,” writes Peter Oh. “I join Pistachio Peadar in Poland in being utterly reliant on your coverage, due to my life choices and current circumstances.
“I’m about 79% confident that Arsenal will see this out, 89% sure that Real Madrid will make it very interesting, and 99% sure that it will be nuttier than a bowl of pistachios.”
4 min Alaba is booked for wiping out Saka; that’s an abysmal challenge. Just before that Real broke dangerously through Vinicius Jr, whose cross was booted away. Arsenal are pressing high, which is a) admirable and b) what they did at the Etihad in April 2023 when Kevin De Bruyne put them over his knee.
2 min: Mbappe goal disallowed for offside He was miles off, so there’s nothing to see, but it was a neat chested finish from Vinicius Jr’s cross/shot. The noise is incredible.
1 min And they’re off, a couple of minutes later than advertised. Arsenal, in their black change strip, kick off from right to left as we watch.
These gentlemen are about to take the field. The atmosphere is spectacular.
Real Madrid (4-3-3) Courtois; Lucas Vazquez, Asencio, Rudiger, Alaba; Valverde, Tchouameni, Bellingham; Rodrygo, Mbappe, Vinicius Jr.
Substitutes: Fran Gonzalez, Sergio Mestre, Modric, Arda Guler, Endrick, Vallejo, Dani Ceballos, Fran Garcia, Brahim.
Arsenal (4-3-3) Raya; Timber, Saliba, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Saka, Merino, Martinelli.
Substitutes: Neto, Setford, Tierney, White, Zinchenko, Trossard, Sterling, Butler-Oyedeji, Gower, Henry-Francis, Nwaneri, Rosiak.
Referee Francois Letexier (France).
“Hi Rob,” writes Peadar de Burca. “I was really looking forward to watching tonight’s game here in south-west Poland, but seeing as I don’t have a television, I needed my friends Marcin and Agata to invite me over. Thing is they’re Man U and Arsenal fans respectively. He’s sore as hell over the big pile of manure that is United’s season and Agata is desperately worried the Gooners are going to blow it and she doesn’t want me, a Liverpool fan, lording it over them.
“So no invite and here’s me in my Bleak House, sans beer and crisps, just knowing this is going to be the game of the season. But you know what? I don’t care. I’ve got the Guardian’s MBM. Rob Smyth at the wheel. And I think there might be one or two pistachios down the back of the couch. Let’s do this.”
I think that might be the nicest thing anyone’s ever said about my work. Shall I compare thee to a pistachio down the back of the couch?
“If Real can summon the spirit of the remontada,” begins Justin Kavanagh. “If Jude Bellingham can dominate the narrative; if Killian Mbappe can play like it’s a World Cup Final; if Real can channel their inner Luton Town. That’s a lot of ifs. But… I’m trusting Arsenal to keep the head when all about are losing theirs (looking at you, Camavinga, last week), and trust themselves when all men doubt them. They’ll fill the unforgiving 90/120 minutes with 5400/7200 seconds worth of distance run (for the stats fans) and they’ll be men tonight, my son.”
Mikel Arteta’s pre-match thoughts
The team are very focussed, very determined. We know the challenge and opportunity ahead; go and embrace it.
[On the first 15 minutes] It’s always very important to start with a positive vibe and to feel like you are controlling and dominating the game. We will try to do that. But it’s not only about the start.
At this level every action matters, every action changes the momentum and the way the game is developing. We’re very focussed and very determined. Let’s go for it.
“Still keenly remember listening to Derby County’s rare foray into European football when they travelled to Madrid for what was to be a fateful night after the incredible 4-1 victory at the Baseball Ground,” writes Colum Fordham. “I still bear the scars. Hope for Arsenal fans that they are not similarly smitten by the remontada. Should be a cracker of a match.”
“Is there really any point watching this game?” asks Matt Dony. “I mean, is there really any point even playing it in the first place? It’s Madrid in Europe. We all know what’s going to happen. They’ll have a blindingly good 10-minute spell towards the end of the first half, where they score two goals. There’ll be a scruffy third goal around the 70th minute, then they’ll willpower a winner sometime after the 87th minute. And there is nothing Arsenal can do about it.”
The emergence of the Arsenal players for their warm-up is the cue for the home fans to pay tribute to Joe Root. The noise is quite something, especially as we’re still half an hour away from kick off.
Jude Bellingham on the task ahead
Tonight’s winners will play Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals, with the first leg at home of 29 or 30 April and the second leg in Paris a week later.
The players on a yellow card
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Real Madrid Lucas Vazquez, Rudiger, Vinicius Jr, Modric, Endrick.
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Arsenal Timber, Partey, Rice, Martinelli.
Chill out, Nicholas Jover
Team news: Arsenal unchanged from first leg
Carlo Ancelotti makes two changes from the first leg at the Emirates. Lucas Vazquez and Aurelien Tchouameni replace Luka Modric and the suspended Eduardo Camavinga. That means Fede Valverde will move into midfield.
Arsenal, as you’d expect, are unchanged from the first leg.
Real Madrid (4-3-3) Courtois; Lucas Vazquez, Asencio, Rudiger, Alaba; Valverde, Tchouameni, Bellingham; Rodrygo, Mbappe, Vinicius Jr.
Substitutes: Fran Gonzalez, Sergio Mestre, Modric, Arda Guler, Endrick, Vallejo, Dani Ceballos, Fran Garcia, Brahim.
Arsenal (4-3-3) Raya; Timber, Saliba, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Saka, Merino, Martinelli.
Substitutes: Neto, Setford, Tierney, White, Zinchenko, Trossard, Sterling, Butler-Oyedeji, Gower, Henry-Francis, Nwaneri, Rosiak.
Referee Francois Letexier.
Mikel Arteta on the challenge awaiting Arsenal
The feeling is excitement. We want to create history. We are trying to do something consistently, to start to dominate European competition. This is a great opportunity. For sure, we are convinced.
‘So you’re saying there’s a chance’
Preamble
Noventi minuti en el Bernabéu son molto longo.
Those were the words of Real Madrid’s Juanito after his side lost 3-1 to Internazionale in the first leg of a Uefa Cup semi-final in 1985-86. Ninety minutes at the Bernabeu are very long.
Turns out 120 minutes were even longer. Real savaged a good Inter side 5-1 after extra-time and went on to win the competition. It was their fifth spectacular European comeback in just two seasons, all at the Bernabeu, and cemented the legend of the remontada.
The team, the myth, the legend. Real still dine out on it, and Jude Bellingham helped himself to seconds at yesterday’s press conference. You can understand why. Carlo Ancelotti’s team have produced some remarkable acts of escapology in recent years, but the aura of the Bernabeu has presented in short periods of utter madness rather than across a full 90 or 120 minutes.
That 1985-86 season was the last time Real overturned a first-leg deficit of at least three goals. Their victims were Borussia Monchengladbach, who won 5-1 in Germany but went out on away goals when Santillana scored in the 88th minute at the Bernabeu to make it 4-0. The last time Real did in the European Cup was against Derby in November 1975.
Real will feel a proper remontada is long overdue; Arsenal’s will fancy that their defence, which hasn’t conceded three or more in a game since December 2023*, can deal with the cauldron. The prize – a first Champions League semi-final since 2009 – is well worth suffering for.
Kick off 8pm.
*The last team to score three against Arsenal were… Luton Town, who lost a seven-goal thriller at Kenilworth Road in December 2023. That was 79 games ago in all competitions.
