Arsenal fans witnessed a truly special night inside the Emirates Stadium on Tuesday.
Few gave the Gunners a chance against Real Madrid, 15-time winners of the UEFA Champions League, but a couple of quite remarkable freekicks by Declan Rice, and a fine finish from Mikel Merino, sealed a shock 3-0 win for Arsenal.
It means Mikel Arteta will take the north Londoners into the UEFA Champions League semi-final unless Real Madrid can score four goals without reply at the Santiago Bernabeu in the second leg.
That may seem unlikely, but the Spanish giants have been pretty ruthless on home soil so far this season.
Why Arsenal must put 100% into second leg against Real Madrid
Carlo Ancelotti has seen his side score four goals in one game on eight occasions at the Santiago Bernabeu so far this season – so Real Madrid certainly have it in them to overturn this deficit.
- Real Madrid 4-1 Espanyol (La Liga)
- Real Madrid 5-2 Borussia Dortmund (UEFA Champions League)
- Real Madrid 4-0 Osasuna (La Liga)
- Real Madrid 4-2 Sevilla (La Liga)
- Real Madrid 5-2 Celta Vigo (Copa del Rey)
- Real Madrid 4-1 Las Palmas (La Liga)
- Real Madrid 5-1 RB Salzburg (UEFA Champions League)
- Real Madrid 4-4 Real Sociedad (Copa del Rey)
In total, Real Madrid have scored 67 goals in 26 games at the Santiago Bernabeu this season, so Los Blancos are clearly quite dangerous in front of home support – although none of those eight opponents are as strong as Arsenal, in truth.
How many times have Arsenal conceded four goals in a game this season?
While few sides possess talents such as Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Junior, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo, Arsenal fans will be pleased to know that the Gunners are yet to concede four goals in a single game this season.
Arsenal – who want Viktor Gyokeres – have never actually conceded to Real Madrid across three meetings.
Arsenal have faced Real Madrid just three times
They’ve never lost and are yet to concede a goal 👏 pic.twitter.com/T5XV0mAGQa
— Premier League (@premierleague) April 8, 2025
In fact, Arsenal’s worst result of the 2024/25 campaign so far is merely a 2-0 defeat, which they suffered against Bournemouth in the Premier League, and twice against Newcastle in the Carabao Cup.
Therefore, you can argue Arsenal are very solid, and it would undoubtedly be one of the most seismic shocks in UEFA Champions League history if they bottle the tie in Madrid.
