Arsenal 3-0 Real Madrid: Match review | OneFootball

Real Madrid suffered an embarrassing 3-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium against Arsenal in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final bout on Tuesday. The Whites were undone by a 17-minute goal blitz by the Gunners in the latter half as two fantastic free-kicks from Declan Rice and an immaculate finish from Mikel Merino condemned them to their second loss in a row.

The hosts made a strong start to the game and were perhaps unlucky to not lead within the first 15 minutes after William Saliba blocked his own teammate, Thomas Partey’s header on the goal line. The Merengues gained a bit of control thereafter and had a couple of decent chances through Vinicius Junior and Kylian Mbappe which were not taken effectively, particularly the Frenchman’s in a one-on-one situation versus David Raya.

After the half-hour mark, the tide swung in Arsenal’s favour once again and Thibaut Courtois was called into action before half time. The Belgian made a sensational double save to keep Rice and Gabriel Martinelli out from close range and ensure that the Whites went into the break on level terms. In the second 45, however, there was a major gulf in quality between the two sides.

Mikel Arteta’s men were outclassing Carlo Ancelotti’s side in every possible department and simply showed better desire and intensity. Their hunger eventually paid off with Rice’s beautiful free-kick, the first such goal of his career. It was Arsenal’s game following the opener and they would go on to add to their tally but not before Courtois produced yet another moment of genius with a triple save.

Rice needed only 12 minutes to add to his tally from another set-piece situation, which all but guaranteed him the Man-of-the-Match award on the minute. Five minutes afterwards, Merino got himself on the scoresheet. Arsenal’s makeshift striker was found in the box by Myles Lewis-Skelly and the Spaniard unleashed a first-time finish into the bottom corner past Courtois to compound Madrid’s misery.

A night to forget for the visitors was rounded off with Eduardo Camavinga receiving a second yellow card and consequent red for kicking the ball away in frustration in stoppage time after the referee called a foul against Real Madrid. The Emirates was understandably ecstatic as the full time whistle went a couple of minutes later while the defending European champions suffered their 11th defeat of the season in all competitions.

The result puts further pressure on Carlo Ancelotti, whose job has been precarious in the last few months owing to the team losing ground on Barcelona in the title race in La Liga. The Italian undoubtedly must shoulder the blame for the team’s collective failure for his one-dimensional tactics after being outclassed once again and a failure in nourishing the team’s fringe players, who would have been vital in such games off the bench.

Against a quality Arsenal side, Real Madrid will have barely any chances of coming back in next week’s second leg at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu and in fairness, barring yet another miracle in the Spanish capital, their fate in the European Cup might be all but sealed. Their upcoming game this weekend is against Deportivo Alaves in La Liga as they hope to get back to winning ways, desperately so.