Champions League: How Arsenal Defeated Real Madrid With 3-0 Victory

Arsenal have produced their best result in recent memory with a 3-0 victory over Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final.

After a first half at the Emirates that saw chances for both sides, Declan Rice opened the scoring with a world-class free kick around Madrid’s wall in the 58th minute.

Rice then repeated the feat 12 minutes later with a second, even better free-kick goal.

Just five minutes after that, makeshift striker Mikel Merino added to the Champions League holders’ misery with a well-placed finish from close range to make it 3-0.

Eduardo Camavinga was sent off in the final minute of stoppage time for a second yellow card, though his first booking already meant he was suspended for the second leg.

The two teams will renew acquaintances next Wednesday at the Bernabeu to decide which team will set up a semi-final against either Paris Saint-Germain or Aston Villa.

Tonight marked just the third time that these two teams have met and Arsenal remains one of the few sides Real Madrid has faced in the Champions League without beating.

Recall that there was a 1-0 Arsenal win and a goalless draw when they met in 2006 and now the Premier League side have added a 3-0 victory to that list of results.

Also, it is well-documented that Arsenal has never won the Champions League, but tonight’s result gives them a great chance of breaking their record in this competition.

Meanwhile, Mikel Arteta’s men will travel to the Bernabeu for the second leg on April 16 as firm favourites to advance to a semi-final tie against Paris Saint-Germain or Aston Villa, who meet in their quarter-final first leg on Wednesday.

The Gunners have not reached the Champions League semi-finals since 2009, but that target is now within their grasp after an evening that will go down as one of the most memorable in the club’s storied history.

Arteta had labelled the clash with Real as the “biggest night” of his career as he urged his players to write their own history by winning Arsenal’s first Champions League crown.

They rose to the challenge so successfully that even Arteta might have been surprised.

Arsenal trail Premier League leaders Liverpool by 11 points and look destined to finish as runners-up for a third successive season.