With Liverpool out of sight and Arsenal out of the domestic cups, the Champions' League is our only chance for silverware this season. Few Gunners fans were confident about the quarters vs Real Madrid, though we all knew we had a shot at beating them. The odds got longer after Gabriel's hamstring went twang against Fulham, but Arteta did what he could to maintain form against league opposition and prepare for the first leg at home. We did the business against Fulham, courtesy of a deflected shot from Merino and a nifty and emotional header from Saka on his return from hamstring surgery. (Havertz and Gabriel got this surgery too, which I'd never heard of before. I guess it's a new thing.) Everton was gifted a penalty when Harrison dove in the box and VAR didn't have the stones to tell the ref to take a look on the monitor. That's eleven points lost this year (at least) via dodgy decisions. We rotated heavily to work our returning players back into form and keep them fresh.
It worked. Arsenal was worth the 3-0 scoreline for its dominance. Real could have scored had Mbappe been more clinical on a couple of occasions, but he wasn't. We could have had a couple more off corners and the run of play, but Real bundled the ball off the line a couple times and Courtois made some good saves. Declan Rice broke the deadlock in the second half with two of the best free kicks I have ever seen. Check out the highlights. A third was added by Merino with a lovely first time strike. This tie is not over; the Bernabeu has broken the hearts of many visitors over the years who took leads there. But three goals is a lot to overcome. I'm not looking at the semis. I am hoping we can keep up the suffocating pressure that throttled Real's potent offense.
