It wasn’t alleged to be this fashion. Madrid has constructed a strong popularity for itself a Champions League escape artist, and there’s no first leg outcome it can’t overturn. Madridistas have a phrase for it: remontada, Spanish for “comeback.”
Madrid’s well-known trendy Champions League remontada got here in 2017, when the group fell 4-0 to Paris Saint Germain solely to beat it 6-1 within the second leg and get rid of it on mixture. Dozens of Champions League remontadas have come for Madrid since then. In 2021-22, Madrid managed three in a row — towards Paris, Chelsea and eventually Manchester Metropolis — en path to lifting the Champions League trophy. The sensation throughout Europe has at all times been than Madrid is unbeatable in a two-legged tie.
“We’ve got had earlier experiences. These emotions are contagious,” said Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti after his team’s humiliating 3-0 loss to Arsenal in Game 1. “It was virtually instant, on the bus, despite the fact that we weren’t like we are actually.”
Arsenal lined up for this recreation as if it had no benefit in any way; from coach Mikel Arteta’s perspective, Madrid’s remontada spirit nullified Arsenal’s 3-0 lead.
“It’s a part of their historical past and I perceive it,” Arteta said of Madrid’s taste for comeback victories. “They’ve the precise to consider that situation.
“Our mindset must be completely different. We attempt to repeat the alternative message to what they’ve within the final 72 hours.”
That is exactly what Arsenal did. From the very first minute, the group was aggressive, purposeful and unafraid. It bullied Madrid on and off the ball and labored arduous to make the sport frenetic and bodily. Madrid earned its first yellow card after simply 4 minutes; many extra would observe as the sport devolved into chaos.
The primary half was a story of two penalties that weren’t. Arsenal’s got here first when Raul Asencio took down Mikel Merino within the field; wunderkind Bukayo Saka flubbed his shot immediately at goalkeeper Thibault Courtois and wasted the chance.
Actual Madrid’s got here moments later, when Declan Rice pulled Kylian Mbappe down on the opposite finish of the sector. Rice’s problem was near-identical to Asencio’s moments earlier than, and the referee duly awarded Actual Madrid a penalty. An interminable six-minute VAR test adopted — and after a lot deliberation, the penalty was overturned. Madrid was rightly livid, and the half ended at 0-0.
