English football giant, Arsenal, has progressed to the Semi-final of the Union of European Football Association (UEFA) champions league after beating defending champion, Real Madrid, 2-1 in their stadium, Santiago Bernabéu.
The outcome of the match aided Arsenal to progress to the next stage of the tournament, qualifying 5-1 on aggregate against the multiple winner of the competition.
During the game played on Wednesday, the host could not breakdown the visitor’s defense allowing Arsenal to gain confidence into the match and its forward, Bukayo Saka, in the 65th minute silenced the crowd inside the stadium after losing a penalty.
Realizing the huge deficit before them, Madrid responded through its Brazilian forward, Vinicius Junior, two minutes after, placing the game at 1-1.
While the over 50, 000 Madrid fans had expected that the Spanish giant would capitalize on the goal and increase its tally, the defence could not withstand the pressure from Gabriel Martinelli who rewarded himself with a goal in the 93rd minute of the game.
Arsenal had a 3-0 aggregate lead to defend after their superb victory in the first leg last week – and they were given the chance to silence the noisy home support when they were awarded a 13th-minute penalty.
Saka stepped up but his weak, chipped effort was saved by Thibaut Courtois.
However, the England forward made amends for his miss when he effectively killed off the tie with a fantastic chipped second-half finish over Courtois after Mikel Merino’s clever pass.
Real hit back just two minutes later when a terrible mistake from William Saliba gifted Vinicius Junior with an open goal to score.
It is just the third time in Arsenal have reached the semi-final stage of the Champions League and they willl face Paris St-Germain in the last four.
The home crowd, who had built an excellent atmosphere and were hoping to spark a comeback that would be remembered for years to come, thought their side had a way back into the tie shortly after Saka’s spot-kick miss when they were awarded a penalty of their own.
But a lengthy check with the video assistant referee overturned the referee’s decision after Kylian Mbappe had thrown himself to the floor following minimal contanct from Declan Rice.
