Arsenal pull off one of best ever Emirates performances to trounce Real Madrid | OneFootball

In just the third meeting between Arsenal and Real Madrid, the Gunners triumphed emphatically with a 3-0 win in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.

Producing a seriously commanding display to completely dismantle Los Blancos in all phases of the match, this was a truly special performance by Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal and a compelling statement of intent.

Putting on a tactical clinic, Arteta and his coaching staff deserve immense credit for compiling the perfect game plan to outfox the reigning European Champions in dominant manner. It was a sensational Declan Rice brace and a superb Mikel Merino goal that powered them to glory.

How the players executed was integral too, as they were the far more cohesive and collectively formidable outfit, which was in stark contrast to the more unbalanced and disconnected Real Madrid.

Morphing into many different shapes during build-up with their astute rotations and fluid spatial occupation, the Real Madrid press was no match for the Gunners’ sophisticated patterns.

To start with, David Raya giving Arsenal an extra number was valuable as always, allowing the centre-backs to split wide and stretch and overload Real Madrid’s first line.

To compound issues and complicate things for Carlo Ancelotti’s setup was the inverting Myles Lewis-Skelly and how Martin Odegaard and Merino (from his centre-forward slot) would drop deep to grant them additional numerical and positional superiority centrally.

Rice was a particularly massive thorn in the side of Real Madrid. Not only due to his scintillating pair of free-kicks, but also from how expertly he found space with his shrewd dovetailing with his teammates and ability to rapidly expose weaknesses in the opposition structure. Whether it was spinning out wide when Lewis-Skelly ventured infield, embarking on devastating runs in behind when Gabriel Martinelli and Merino fixed their markers or marauding into the box with penetrative, late-arriving runs, there was much to admire about Rice’s multifaceted movement.

In addition, the wingers being high and wide to pin their direct opponents and further disrupt Real Madrid’s horizontal and vertical compactness to open gaps across their backline heightened Arsenal’s threat and ability to create space in the offensive half.

Arsenal’s third goal served as a testament to this, where Merino checked towards the ball to form a 3v2 and receive freely. This consequently provoked Rodrygo to press him, which then left Rice unattended following his crisp rotation with Lewis-Skelly. Rice’s resulting upfield drive put the wheels in motion for the sequence that ended in fine style with Merino’s wicked first-time strike.

Arsenal’s opener notably arose after some crafty build-up too, with Odegaard’s decoy channel run ensuring Bukayo Saka could be one-on-one with David Alaba, who ended up fouling the Englishman. From there, Rice did the rest in mesmerising fashion.

It must be said that Arsenal were helped by Real Madrid’s disconnected, passive and uncoordinated press, which made life extremely easy for the Gunners to slice through them.

Timing when to jump poorly, missing intensity and not blocking passing lanes adequately with their cover shadows, this combined to see Arsenal carve them open with direct passes beyond their first two waves of pressure and access free men with nifty third man combinations.

Manipulated masterfully by Arsenal, Real Madrid were making too many errors which had chain reaction to allow the Gunners to find spare players at will. Real Madrid also lacked togetherness and unity in their approach, so it’s little wonder Arsenal took full advantage to exploit their adversaries relentlessly.

Indeed, all of this ensured they could gain a real foothold in proceedings to impressively dictate and control the game for large periods, in what was one of the finest displays ever seen at the Emirates in its nearly 20 years of operation.

Forever able to find solutions and generate the conditions to wreak havoc, they certainly conjured conundrums that Madrid usually had no answers for.

“I’m very proud, we had a very complete and big performance collectively, and you need that in the organisation and what we had to do to dominate the game and to create Madrid problems,” a delightful Arteta explained in his post-match debrief.

“This night is about all two factors, one is the atmosphere that we created 15 minutes before kick-off is something I haven’t seen before, so playing with that energy, with that commitment with your crowd makes a huge difference.

“And then magic moments, individual moments that decide all matches and the first two goals of Declan sums up the night.”

Arteta was also keen to stress the job isn’t done yet, and that his team will need to be fully focused to guarantee their passage at the Santiago Bernabeu in the second leg.

He added: “We’re going to enjoy the win, because we feel we deserve to do that, but we know it’s just half-time, and we’re going to have to be even better in Madrid to go through.”

Well and truly in the box seat to march into the semis after this masterclass at the Emirates that’ll live long in the memory, Arsenal will be eager to seal the deal next week. That will be easier said than done against the 15-time winners of Europe’s elite club competition, though.