Three Things We Learned after Arsenal beat Real Madrid in the Bernabeu

Arsenal reached the last four of the Champions League with a majestic performance in the Bernabeu: Here's Ian Mills with Three Things We Learned 

A brilliant night at the Bernabeu sees Arsenal qualify in style as Rice cooks under the closed roof.

Here are three things that stood out for Ian Mills

 1 - Decan Rice majestic again

– if our record signing was the standout performer for his two incredible set piece goals in the first leg, here he showed his defensive qualities and ability to make continuous lung busting runs as he seemed to cover every blade of grass at Santiago Bernabeu.

Quite simply, he has been the best player from either side in each leg and that is quite the achievement bearing in mind not just our illustrious opponents yet also several of Declan’s teammates who were outstanding too.

He rightly survived a first half penalty scare as he tangled with Mbappe before the Frenchman threw himself to the ground. A lengthy VAR ensued however justice was done as the penalty decision was overturned as was Rice’s booking.

Is he best as a number 6 or an 8? He can play both and his will to win and determination to drag his team to success was a key factor in West Ham’s 2023 Europa League Conference triumph. The Champions League is in a different stratosphere in terms of both the level of competition faced and its prestige, yet PSG stand in the way of Rice leading Arsenal to the Final.

Real Madrid’s social media’s accounts had spent the days leading upto the game empathising how they would perform a remontada and closed the roof to add to the atmosphere yet as they say ‘Rice cooks better with the lid on

2 - A mature performance belying our tender years

– when Bukayo saw his Panenka penalty saved both he individually and the team collectively could have crumbled yet instead they displayed enormous maturity to ensure they registered a famous away win.

The back four (save for Saliba’s moment of madness for Vinicius Junior‘s goal) and Partey was rock solid again alongside Rice and Odegaard as Madrid resorted to firing in a succession of aimless crosses into our box. Saka produced a wonderful finish following Merino’s superb pass to break the deadlock and after another great assist, Martinelli finished brilliantly to seal the win in injury time.

This team are continuing to grow and whilst our semi final opponents will offer a formidable barrier to our progression we go into the last four with belief and confidence having destroyed the current holders and record 15 times winners 5-1 on aggregate.

3 - An enviable record versus Real continues

– so it is now four Champions League fixtures versus Real Madrid without defeat, with three of those ending in victories including both of those played at the Bernabeu.

We have scored six times and conceded just once, and we have become the first team in Champions League history to win both home and away knockout ties versus Madrid.