Arsenal entertain Real Madrid at the Emirates Stadium in the first leg of their Champions League quarter final tie this evening.
The Gunners reached the last-8 after easing past PSV Eindhoven in the last-16 but they know the test will be much tougher against Madrid.
Mikel Arteta has to make do without several of his key players tonight as Gabriel Magalhaes has joined the lengthy injury list having undergone surgery on a hamstring injury. Gabriel Jesus, Kai Havertz and Takehiro Tomiyasu are also out of this game and won’t feature again this season while Riccardo Calafiori is still nursing a knee injury.
David Raya keeps goal once again while Jurrien Timber is recalled to start at right-back with Ben White dropping out. Jacub Kiwior is the man picked to fill-in for Gabriel alongside William Saliba in the middle of Arsenal’s defence while Myles Lewis-Skelly keeps his place at left-back.
Thomas Partey is recalled to start in midfield after being rested for the 1-1 draw at Everton. Jorginho is the man to make way as Declan Rice keeps his place in the middle of the park and Martin Odegaard captains Arsenal against his former club tonight.
Arsenal are handed a huge boost as Bukayo Saka is ready to start his first game since recovering from hamstring surgery. The winger has made two substitute appearances in the last week and is now recalled to line-up on the right wing.
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Gabriel Martinelli is also back in the starting eleven after being rested at the weekend so Leandro Trossard drops to the bench despite scoring against Everton on Saturday. Mikel Merino fills-in up front and he’ll be looking to continue his solid goal-scoring form.
As for Real Madrid, they have Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo and Kylian Mbappe in attack with Jude Bellingham also offering support from midfield. Luka Modric also starts along with Eduardo Camavinga.
Here are the confirmed line-ups:
Arsenal
Raya; Timber, Saliba, Kiwior, Lewis-Skelly; Odegaard, Partey, Rice; Saka, Merino, Martinelli
Subs: Neto, Setford, Tierney, White, Zinchenko, Trossard, Jorginho, Butler-Oyedeji, Gower, Nwaneri.
Real Madrid
Courtois; Valverde, Asencio, Rudiger, Alaba; Modric, Camavinga, Bellingham; Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo
Subs: Gonzalez, Mestre, Guler, Endrick, Vasquez, Vallejo, Garcia, Brahim, Jacobo, Chema, Lorenzo
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