William Saliba insists Arsenal do not fear Santiago Bernabeu trip after big Real Madrid win | OneFootball

Arsenal head to Spain next week looking to finish the job and reach the Champions League semi-final

No fear: William Saliba

Arsenal FC via Getty Images

William Saliba says a trip to the Bernabeu holds no fear for Arsenal and they will head there next week looking to win.

The Gunners have a commanding lead going into the second leg in Madrid next Wednesday and they have not lost a game by a four-goal margin since November 2021.

Saliba has insisted that Arsenal will not sit on their lead, though, and instead they will go to the Bernabeu in search of another famous victory.

“We wanted to win today and we want to win again next week and qualify,” he said. “We don’t have to be scared going there.

“It (Tuesday night) was incredible because to win in a quarter-final like this against Madrid, in front of our fans, is amazing. But now we have to do it again next week away.

“We want to go there and win the game. We won 3-0 today but we know it is not finished. There are a lot of things that can happen. We have to go there and win, and not defend the whole game.

“It (beating Real Madrid) gives us a lot of confidence for what is coming next. We have to keep going like this, even if we have a young team, we can win. We are not scared, we want to go there and win the game.”

Declan Rice was Arsenal’s hero on Tuesday night, scoring two brilliant free-kicks in the space of 12 second-half minutes.

Before that, the midfielder had gone over 300 games for Arsenal and West Ham without scoring a direct free-kick.

And Saliba said: “It’s the first time I’ve seen a good free kick from Dec!

“We don’t score a lot of direct free kicks. I am so proud of him and I’m sure he will score again. “We are so proud of him and we hope he will score again. We are so proud of him because he was amazing today.

“We are so happy to keep the clean sheet today in front of our fans and we have to to win that game next weekend.”