Arsenal secured their first Champions League semi-final in 16 years after a historic 2-1 win against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu.
Bukayo Saka, who missed a first-half penalty, fired Arsenal into a 4-0 aggregate lead after 64 minutes, only for the holders to respond immediately when Vinicius Junior nicked the ball off William Saliba before he fired home.
Vinicius’ goal provided Real Madrid with some hope, but Arsenal held on to their three-goal advantage – following Declan Rice’s superb set-piece double at the Emirates eight days ago – before Gabriel Martinelli scored in stoppage time to make it 5-1 on aggregate and complete a memorable night in Spain for Mikel Arteta’s side.
Arsenal, who became the first English team to win twice at the Bernabeu following their victory here 19 years ago, will play Paris St Germain for a place in the final as they bid to be crowned European champions for the first time.
The buzz word ahead of Wednesday’s second leg was remontada – Spanish for comeback – with Jude Bellingham insisting Real Madrid were confident they could overturn Arsenal’s 3-0 lead.
But the focus of an electric period was on two contentious penalties – one that was awarded to Arsenal, and the other which the hosts were denied.
Prior to the two flashpoints a clearly offside Kylian Mbappe had the ball in the Arsenal net within two minutes and the disallowed goal only encouraged the home fans.
Yet it was Arsenal who had the best opportunities to open the scoring and both chances fell to Saka. On eight minutes, the England winger left David Alba tumbling to the turf before he unleashed a wicked shot on Thibaut Courtois’ goal which required a diving save.
Arsenal were awarded a penalty four minutes later when Raul Asencio was adjudged to have fouled Mikel Merino from Rice’s corner.
Referee Francois Letexier had not reacted but after he was urged to visit his pitchside monitor, he pointed to the spot.
Captain Martin Odegaard took the ball before handing it to Saka. But Arsenal’s star man fluffed an attempted Panenka with Courtois palming the poor penalty away with his left arm.
And 10 minutes later, Real thought they had a penalty of their own.
Rice grappled with Mbappe in the box and the France forward dropped to the deck. Letexier immediately blew his whistle and the Bernabeu erupted.
But Rice protested his innocence and a lengthy VAR check followed. In all, four minutes had passed from the initial foul before Letexier was asked to review his on-field decision. Another minute went by as the French official weighed up whether to overrule his own decision. He did and Arsenal survived.
Arsenal were happy to slow the game down – goalkeeper David Raya was booked for timewasting after 36 minutes – and a frustrated Real failed to muster a single shot on goal in the first half. Indeed, it was Courtois who was called into action again at the other end as he denied Martinelli low to his left in stoppage time.
The Spanish giants had now failed to score in three-and-a-half matches against Arsenal across the last 19 years. They needed at least three in the following 45 minutes to force extra-time.
But it was Arsenal who drew first blood as Saka atoned for his earlier miss. Saka and Odegaard were both involved in a brilliant build-up before Merino played the killer pass and Saka delivered the killer chip. In contrast to his dink from the spot, this time it worked, and the onrushing Courtois could do nothing to prevent Saka’s sublime finish from dropping into the net.
Real now required four goals to salvage anything from the tie, and they pulled one back immediately when Saliba was caught napping and Vinicius robbed the defender to haul Real level on the night.
At that stage, there were still 23 minutes to play, but, in truth, the 15-time European Cup winners never looked like scoring again.
When Mbappe hobbled off with 14 minutes remaining, Arsenal were all but over the line and the crowning moment came in stoppage time when Martinelli sealed a famous win.
Sandy Baltimore’s brace inspired Chelsea to a 3-0 FA Cup final triumph over Manchester United and sealed an unbeaten domestic treble for Sonia Bompastor’s serial winners in front of a sell-out crowd at Wembley.Bompastor had already led the Blues to league cup glory and a sixth successive Women’s Super League title in her first season in charge at Chelsea, who became the first sid...
Everton manager David Moyes felt the final Goodison Park farewell offered a glimpse of what the future could be like when the love affair between fans and the club is rekindled.Iliman Ndiaye scored the last goals in a 2-0 victory over Southampton as the ground signed off 133 years of men’s senior football.The new stadium at Bramley-Moore Dock offers a chance for a reset for a club which, for...
Iliman Ndiaye scored the last goals at Goodison Park as Everton signed off 133 years of history with a fitting 2-0 win over an abject Southampton.Nottingham Forest’s Horace Pike had the honour of being first on the scoresheet here in September 1892 – Fred Geary registered the Toffees’ first in the 2-2 draw – but Senegal international Ndiaye had the final say.The 2,791st men...
Crystal Palace manager Oliver Glasner hailed his players for writing a new chapter in Crystal Palace’s history following their 1-0 FA Cup triumph over Manchester City.Eberechi Eze’s 16th-minute goal and Dean Henderson’s penalty save paved the way for Palace to land their first major trophy and a spot in the Europa League next season.“We said before the game that we wanted t...
Pep Guardiola was unhappy about Dean Henderson’s time wasting in Manchester City’s FA Cup final defeat – but the Spaniard refused to be drawn on whether the Crystal Palace goalkeeper should have been sent off.An angry Guardiola exchanged words with Henderson after the final whistle following City’s 1-0 loss at Wembley, which leaves them without a trophy this season and stil...
Airdrieonians secured their place in the Scottish Championship for another season as they beat Cove Rangers 2-1 on aggregate in their play-off final after a 0-0 second-leg draw at Excelsior Stadium.The early stages saw Lewis McGrattan bring a good save out of Cove goalkeeper Nicholas Suman, before counterpart Cade Melrose did well at the other end as he blocked Adam Emslie’s shot with his fo...
Eberechi Eze’s 16th-minute goal fired Crystal Palace to the first major trophy in their history as they secured a 1-0 FA Cup victory over Manchester City at Wembley.Eze put Palace ahead with their first attack of the match before an inspired Dean Henderson saved Omar Marmoush’s penalty.However, Henderson could count himself fortunate to still be on the pitch after he earlier appeared t...
East Kilbride won promotion to Scottish League Two for the first time and sent Bonnyrigg Rose down after a 0-0 draw at New Dundas Park saw the visitors triumph 3-1 on aggregate.Bonnyrigg goalkeeper Paddy Martin did well to keep out a Joao Balde strike in the 24th minute, before Aaron Arnott fired over at the other end.Kerr Young was unable to make the most of two chances for the hosts midway throu...
Let's start our Daily Laugh today. Manchester City's nightmare season will end without a trophy Dean Huijsen is just a chill guy joining Real Madrid Pep, Arteta Crystal Palace FA Cup Champion 2024/25🏆Crystal Palace 1-0 Man City In a world of elite strikers… there stands one king OFFICIAL: Lionel Messi will face The BEAST He Created! Has he got the Arsenal curse? Please stay tuned...
Carlo Ancelotti's future as the new Brazil manager is in serious danger as the five-time World Cup winners have been warned they could be expelled from the 2026 competition.Ancelotti had been announced as the new Brazil manager for the upcoming World Cup campaign, joining after the season with Real Madrid comes to an end.Since then, the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF) risks being barred fro...
- 1 Richie Wellens hails Leyton Orient’s ‘outstanding’ victory over Stockport
- 2 Man Utd are losing the feeling of being a massive club – Ruben Amorim
- 3 We will see – no Unai Emery assurances over future of tearful Emiliano Martinez
- 4 Leyton Orient book Wembley date by beating Stockport on penalties
- 5 Liverpool cleared to complete signing
- 6 Brendan Rodgers hits out at ‘needless challenge’ on Reo Hatate
- 7 Mat Sadler hails Walsall’s ‘fighting performance’ after win in play-off first leg
- 8 David Gray thanks Hibernian board for showing faith in him after securing third
- 9 Airdrieonians earn first-leg lead over Cove in play-offs
- 10 Flick lauds Yamal, as Barca nears title