Real Madrid 1-2 Arsenal: The Gunners win their match as they qualify for the UEFA Champions League semi-finals (Player Ratings)

Arsenal’s first Champions League semi-final in 16 years was achieved with a historic 2-1 victory over Real Madrid at the Bernabeu.

After 64 minutes, Arsenal had a 4-0 aggregate lead after Bukayo Saka scored, despite missing a first-half penalty. However, the holders responded immediately when Vinicius Junior stole the ball off William Saliba before firing home.

Real Madrid was granted some optimism by Vinicius’ goal; however, Arsenal maintained their three-goal lead, which had been established eight days prior to the match by Declan Rice’s exceptional set-piece double at the Emirates. Gabriel Martinelli scored in stoppage time to make the final score 5-1 on aggregate and culminate a memorable evening in Spain for Mikel Arteta’s team.

Arsenal, which achieved the distinction of becoming the first English team to win twice at the Bernabeu after their victory here 19 years ago, will participate in the final against Paris St. Germain in an effort to become the first European champions.

The term remontada, which translates to “comeback” in Spanish, was the topic of conversation prior to Wednesday’s second leg. Jude Bellingham maintained that Real Madrid was confident in their ability to overcome Arsenal’s 3-0 advantage.A obviously offside Kylian Mbappe had the ball in the Arsenal net within two minutes prior to the two flashpoints, and the disallowed goal only served to motivate the home fans.

However, Arsenal had the most opportunities to score, and Saka capitalised on both of them. The England winger sent David Alba to the ground on eight minutes before unleashing a vicious strike on Thibaut Courtois’ goal, necessitating a diving save.

However, Rice maintained his innocence, and a protracted VAR investigation ensued. After the initial foul, Letexier was requested to review his on-field decision after a total of four minutes had elapsed. The French official contemplated whether to override his own decision for an additional minute. Arsenal survived as a result of his actions.

Arsenal was content to slow down the game, and goalkeeper David Raya was issued a caution for timewasting after 36 minutes. Real, who were frustrated, were unable to elicit a single shot goal in the first half. In fact, Courtois was once again summoned to action at the other end, as he denied Martinelli low to his left in first-half stoppage time.

Arsenal had not scored in any of their previous three-and-a-half matches against the Spanish titans in the past 19 years. In order to necessitate additional time, they required a minimum of three in the subsequent 45 minutes.

However, Arsenal was the first to score, as Saka made amends for his previous error. Saka and Odegaard were both involved in a superb build-up before Merino played the killer pass and Saka delivered the killer chip. This time, Saka’s exquisite finish was successful, and Courtois was unable to prevent it from falling into the net, in contrast to his previous attempt to dink from the spot.

Saliba was caught napping, and Vinicius dispossessed the defender to bring Real level on the night. Real now needed four goals to salvage anything from the tie.

At that juncture, there were still 23 minutes remaining; however, the 15-time European Cup champions appeared incapable of scoring once more.

Arsenal had nearly achieved victory when Mbappe withdrew with 14 minutes remaining. The final moment occurred in stoppage time, when Martinelli secured a historic victory.

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Nevertheless, the two contentious penalties that Arsenal was awarded and the hosts were denied were the primary focus of an electrifying period.