The dreams of the Real Madrid Champions League were torn apart at the Emirates Stadium as a Declan Rice free kicks offense and a precise Mikel Merino finish gave Arsenal an advance of 3-0 in the first stage of the quarter-final. To rub the salt in the injury, Eduardo Camavonga was returned late in the injury time as he cut the ball, his frustration won over him.
Three answers
1. Who would play behind?
José Félix Díaz dropped a bomb on Marca on Tuesday morning when he said that Carlo Ancelotti was preparing to align with Lucas Vázquez at the right back and David Alaba on the left, despite the indications that Fede Valverde and Fran García were also in conflict for these roles. In the end, it was only 50% on the right, while Valverde started right and Alaba obtained the head sign on García on the left. It might not have been as surprising as it may seem, given the lack of faith of Ancelotti in Fran García against the stronger adversaries offensively. The inclusion of Alaba also added another aspect, which was very necessary. In the end, none looked too uncomfortable, although tested in the individual challenges posed by Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli.
2. Would the sets come?
Yes, but not the corners as initially feared. Pre-match, Carlo Ancelotti had told Kiyan Sobhani to manage Madrid: “Arsenal is very dangerous in the sets”, before adding: “We will try to defend as well as possible, we can also do damage when we have pieces”. No one seemed to tell the players on the field, because Real Madrid had three corners but had only one shot with one with Jude Bellingham in Low Volley, an easy backup for David Raya. Defensively, the weakest configuration fell early, when Thomas Parte pulled a head point at close range. Arsenal recorded only one more than one corner, but continued to threaten. It was in place of free kicks that proved to be deadly.
3. What will be the importance of home advantage in the second floor?
Real Madrid’s poor performance at the League stadium meant that Los Blancos had to go to Estadio Riyadh Air Metropolitano for the second stage of the last 16, and it was not an easy task. This round gave the advantage of the reigning champions at Estadio Santiago Bernabéu for the return match, but they had to go to London and, at the very least, keep the tie alive for next week’s match in Madrid. Real Madrid failed to do so. A 3-0 defeat means that the return match will be a huge request for Los Blancos on the lawn at home, and at a time when the last two home games produced a draw (which ended with a 4-3 defeat in 90 minutes) against Real Sociedad, and a defeat against Valence.
Three questions
1. Is there a hope for Real Madrid in the return match?
Real Madrid is the return Kings, but a 3-0 defeat in the first step will not be easy to overcome. It would be necessary to return in 1985/86, when Real Madrid returned from 5-1 with a 4-0 victory in the return leg against Borussia Monchengladbach. This only happened twice before that, a year before with a 6-1 victory in the match after a 3-0 defeat against Anderlecht, and in 1975/76, when a 4-1 defeat against the Derby County was canceled with a 5-1 victory. It is difficult to envisage Arsenal, who has not conceded four in a single match since May 2023, falling in the same way. In fact, they only conceded six in 10 games in the Champions League this season. And they will have the mental summit of this victory in the first stage.
2. Would Real Madrid have avoided the superb free kicks in Declan Rice?
It has been a while that a rival as inspired faced against Real Madrid in great moments to decide a match. Declan Rice did exactly that with two frank kicks of incredible quality that make the blame difficult either Thibaut Courtois or the wall players in front of him. The finishes were just so good. But, Real Madrid could have learned after the first, and saved unnecessary faults in dangerous positions. Eight mistakes committed is not a particularly high number, it is two less than against Valence on the weekend, for example, but there were several in dangerous positions which allowed Declan Rice a chance and that was all he needed. It was an indiscipline that is not characteristic of this side and was summarized with the unnecessary late red card to Eduardo Camavanga for having sent the ball to recover a second yellow card.
3. Where was this game lost?
Trying to identify exactly where Real Madrid was wrong here is a big request, but the starting point must be in the midfielder’s battle where Arsenal has simply exceeded Real Madrid. Although it may have been difficult to avoid the domination of the Gunners of possession in their own stadium, the English part found too easy to cut Real Madrid and move from the defense to the attack in a few seconds, as evidenced by the movement which led to Mikel Merino’s strike to make it 3-0. It was a bad evening for Jude Bellingham with a maximum of 10 lost duels, while Eduardo Camavonga was pinned in depth and Luka Modrić could not dictate the game as he usually did, recording only eight passes in the last third and a chance created.
