Arsenal power past Real Madrid as Mikel Arteta sets sights On first ever UEFA Champions League title

Though Arsenal have performed wonderfully well in the league phase of the UEFA Champions League, winning six and losing just one of their eight games, before then powering past PSV Eindhoven 9-3 on aggregate, not many pundits or indeed Gunners fans felt the North London side would make it past Real Madrid, but Mikel Arteta’s side responded brilliantly to such concerns by easily overcoming the reigning champions.

Having defeated Carlo Ancelotti’s star-studded side 3-0 at the Emirates Stadium, some had even entertained the notion that the La Liga giants would mount a comeback of epic proportions at the Santiago Bernabeu, but it was not to be.

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Declan Rice was in stellar form in the first leg of their quarter-final success, crashing in two epic free kicks, and the England international picked up another player of the match award for his performance in the Spanish capital, with Arsenal more than matching their illustrious opponents.

Bukayo Saka had already missed a penalty before he chipped Thibaut Courtois from a great Mikel Merino assist to put Arsenal one goal up and four ahead in the tie. A rare error from William Saliba saw Vinicius Junior pull a goal back before Merino sent Gabriel Martinelli free to fire home a memorable winner to complete a 5-1 success.

Arteta described the win in Madrid as one of the highlights of his career, the Arsenal manager explaining,

"We played against a team with the biggest history. It has been an inspiration for all of us in this competition.”

"To be able to win the tie in the manner we have done - I think we have to be very proud of ourselves.”

"It is very difficult. After two to three minutes, you realise anything can happen in this stadium.”

"Fortunately, a lot of things went for us. Overall, we did what we had to do to win the game.”

"The history we have in this competition is so short. The third time in our history of what we have just done, and we have to build on that.”

"All this experience is going to help us, for sure."

"We had full belief that we could beat this team and the players did it." he added.

Next up for Arsenal will be PSG, the Ligue 1 champions, edging past Aston Villa despite losing 3-2 at Villa Park in midweek. Mikel Arteta has already seen his side face Luis Enrique’s outfit, with goals from Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka seeing Arsenal complete a fairly easy 2-0 home win.

However, Enrique’s PSG side has grown in stature as the season has gone on, and the semi-final clash is sure to be a hard-fought affair. The winner of the tie will then meet either Barcelona or Inter Milan in Munich in the UEFA Champions League Final in May.