Arsenal should be feeling encouraged after Real Madrid suffer HUGE blow | OneFootball

Real Madrid suffered a surprise home defeat to Valencia ahead of their Champions League quarter-final clash with Arsenal despite boss Carlo Ancelotti naming a strong side.

The Gunners will face the Spanish giants at the Emirates on Tuesday in the first leg of their quarter-final clash.

But Ancelotti’s side will go into the game after suffering a significant blow to their La Liga title chances.

Their 2-1 defeat to Valencia now means they sit three points behind Barcelona having played one game more than their fierce rivals.

Ancelotti unsurprisingly opted to go with a strong team for the game with Jude Bellingham, Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr all starting.

Vinicius Jr had a golden chance to put his side ahead early on from the penalty spot but missed it, which was followed by Valencia taking the lead on 15 minutes through Mouctar Diakhaby when he headed in from a corner – which should provide even more encouragement for Arsenal given their expertise from set pieces.

But Vinicius made amends in the second half when he equalised shortly after the restart.

There would be more drama to follow, however, with Carlos Corberan’s side snatching a 95th minute winner through Hugo Duro.

Real Madrid had to name a far from ideal back four due to injuries to Eder Militao, Dani Carvajal and Ferland Mendy. Young centre-back Raul Asencio was only named on the bench with the experienced Antonio Rudiger and out of position Aurelien Tchouameni starting in the middle of defence, while Lucas Vasquez and Francisco Garcia occupied the full-back spots.

19-year-old third-choice goalkeeper Fran Gonzalez also had to start due to injuries to Thibaut Courtois and Andriy Lunin.

Ancelotti had spoken of his optimism that Courtois would be back in time for the Arsenal game but he was left out of the squad altogether against Valencia with Lunin also carrying a “minor issue”. It remains to be seen whether either will be fit in time to face the Gunners.