Key events
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.
