
Real Madrid 1-2 Arsenal (1-5 on aggregate)
by Layth Yousif
at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu
SECOND-HALF goals from Bukayo Saka and Gabi Martinelli were enough to achieve the result Arsenal required to visit Paris in the spring, as Mikel Arteta’s magnificent side beat Real Madrid 2-1 to reach the last four of the Champions League, where they will now play PSG.
For when it came down to it, the Spanish aristocrats failed to achieve their much-spoken about “remontada” (comeback), amid, it has to be said, the flailing noise around their utterly self-inflated opinion of their underwhelming team.
In the shadow of Heathrow and glow of Thorpe Park, a band of Arsenal loyalists have built something lasting — a grassroots club with old-school values, writes LAYTH YOUSIF

A point apiece at the Emirates with both Arsenal and Palace looking distracted by forthcoming semi-finals