Bukayo Saka scored a goal and missed a penalty as Arsenal held off Real Madrid to reach the Champions League semi-finals in an incident-packed match at the Bernabeu.
Arsenal entered the match with a 3-0 aggregate lead after their impressive victory in the first leg last week. They were given an opportunity to silence the energetic home crowd when they were awarded a penalty in the 13th minute.
Saka stepped up to take the penalty, but his weak, dinked shot was saved by Thibaut Courtois. However, the England forward redeemed himself with a fantastic chipped finish over Courtois in the second half, effectively securing the tie after a clever pass from Mikel Merino.
Just two minutes later, Real Madrid responded when a mistake from William Saliba gifted Vinicius Junior an open goal to score. Despite this hope, Real could not capitalize on the momentum, and Gabriel Martinelli sealed a glorious night for Arsenal by scoring in stoppage time on a breakaway, again assisted by Merino.
This marks only the third time Arsenal has reached the semi-final stage of the Champions League, where they will face Paris Saint-Germain. Arsenal had previously defeated PSG 2-0 at the Emirates Stadium during the league phase, but Luis Enrique’s French champions have shown significant improvement since then.
The atmosphere in Madrid was electric, with fans hoping for a memorable comeback after Saka’s missed penalty. Their hopes were briefly revived when Real was awarded a penalty of their own shortly after. However, a lengthy video assistant referee check overturned the decision after it was determined that Kylian Mbappe had gone down following minimal contact from Declan Rice.
