Arsenal 3-0 Real Madrid: Declan Rice scores TWO stunning free-kicks with Mikel Merino also on target as rampant Gunners put one foot in Champions League semi-finals

Jude Bellingham stood with his hands on his hips, looked up at the big screen above a corner full of dancing and delirious Arsenal fans and puffed out his cheeks.

It was a gesture that said everything. Real Madrid, the 15-time champions of Europe, were on the verge of being bounced spectacularly out of a competition they have come to view as their personal playground.

Arsenal’s three second-half goals had come at Real like machine gun fire. 

Two from Declan Rice’s beautiful right foot and another from the left of their makeshift centre forward Mikel Merino. This was a 0-0 game as the hour mark approached yet by the time Merino’s shot found Thibaut Courtois’ bottom corner in the 75th minute, Carlo Ancelotti’s team were all but out of the tie.

We will not write off the defending champions off just yet. They have suffered in this way before only to suffocate teams back at the Santiago Bernabeu. Next week in Madrid will still be a test for Mikel Arteta and his players.

But this was a statement performance nonetheless from Arsenal. They had called it the biggest night at the Emirates for 20 years and they decorated it with a performance to match. They were the better team in the first half. Steadily progressive and purposeful. 

Then, on the back of Rice’s two free-kick goals in minutes 58 and 70 – the first of his senior career – they exploded into life to leave Real gasping for air in a surging red-and-white rip tide.

Real’s goalkeeper Courtois had warned beforehand of Arsenal’s set-piece threat but this was not what he meant. He was talking about corners. Here, as Rice delivered his rockets towards his goal, one of the world’s best keepers was reduced to diving only for show.

The night ended ingloriously for Real as their central midfielder Eduardo Camavinga was sent off in stoppage time for a second yellow card. Arsenal’s goalkeeper David Raya barely made a single save of note all night.

Arsenal’s start was befitting of the occasion. The atmosphere here was terrific at kick-off and Arsenal’s early football matched it as they played quickly and directly and with a width that troubled the defending champions. Arsenal are often at their best when Bukayo Saka and Gabriel Martinelli are on their game and here they were a handful. Real were reduced to playing on the break for much of the first half.

Saka had the measure of Real full back David Alaba. In only the sixth minute, he beat him to reach the byline down the right and cross low. When Antonio Rudiger swung a boot at the ball in panic, it hit Camavinga and disappeared for a corner.

Real’s counter attacks were rapid, of course. Saka gave the ball away to spark one early on and was lucky that Vinicius Junior couldn’t find Kylian Mbappe on the other side. Later, Bellingham slid Mbappe through the middle and Raya saved.

That was the best chance of Real’s first half whereas Arsenal had others. They lost their way briefly but were a strengthening force once again by the time we reached the interval goalless.

One strong left-sided run from Martinelli saw Merino lay his low cross back to Thomas Partey and his low shot from 18 yards was saved by Courtois. 

Saka twice then befuddled Alaba to cross low across goal but Arsenal lacked anyone with the striker’s instinct to anticipate the delivery. Rice watched the first one pass within a yard of him and reacted by putting his hands to his head in recognition of the fact that a simple step towards goal would have seen him tap the ball in. 

The Arsenal midfielder did head another Saka cross down and towards the corner in the 45th minute only for Courtois to plunge to his right to save one-handed. The Belgian was then quickly to his feet to repel the rebound at his near post from Martinelli. Arsenal had been the better team but hadn’t scored.

And by the time we passed the hour mark and beyond, it started to feel very much like Arsenal’s night. Real had seen slightly more of the ball immediately after the break and one sharp pass from Bellingham had allowed Mbappe to deliver a rising shot that rippled the side netting. For a few minutes it looked as though Real may be about to find a way to strangle the game. They seemed to be locating some control.

But almost immediately Arsenal wrestled it back and by the time we entered the final 15 minutes, Arteta’s team had taken command of the night and indeed the tie in quite stunning fashion.

Both of Rice’s goal were beautifully struck. They were perfect in fact. Courtois was having a good night but no goalkeeper in the world would have saved these.

Saka won the first free-kick with a run from right to left in the 58th minute. Rice took it with his right foot from 25 yards and curled it round the wall, a yard outside the goalkeeper’s left post and back into the corner. Stunning.

Arsenal took strength from their goal and almost scored again 10 minutes later as Courtois denied Martinelli, Alaba blocked Merino’s follow-up and then the goalkeeper tipped the forward’s next shot over the bar. From the corner, Bellingham cleared a Rice shot from the line.

Real were trying to hang on but they couldn’t. Arsenal were irresistible. Rice’s next free-kick came from even further out in the 70th minute and found the same corner, just a little higher up. Courtois was diving only for show.

And then as Rice led another foray forward five minutes later, Myles Lewis-Skelly squared to Merino, who scored expertly with a clipped left-foot shot.

Real were a spent force, hanging on for dear life. 

This was not about recovery, it was about surviving further assaults. 

Somehow they did it. Camavinga’s absence next week won’t help them. Equally, it is far from the worst of their problems.