Arsenal finish job as Saka shakes off miss and Martinelli adds flourish

When at last the never-ending story reached its final page, there was Bukayo Saka standing at the north end of the Santiago Bernabéu, shrugging a familiar shrug that says: how about that, then?

- Sid Lowe

When at last the never-ending story reached its final page, there was Bukayo Saka standing at the north end of the Santiago Bernabéu, shrugging a familiar shrug that says: how about that, then? And that was pretty special, Arsenal's own story written as Mikel Arteta had demanded and a moment they will remember for a long time.

Here was the goal that effectively put them into the semi-final of the Champions League for the third time in their history and a portrait of the way they had played here: an exercise in patience, control, and maturity. Precision and courage too. Saka had missed a first-half penalty that might have set up their passage sooner, but he was not sunk. None of them were: not by the legend, the atmosphere, the history, not by the quality of players before them, the fatalism that has seen so many others crumble and fall here.

Instead, the Santiago Bernabéu spell was broken, Real Madrid eliminated. And deservedly so. At no point really was Arsenal's 3-0 lead from the first leg in real danger. Not even when they gifted Real Madrid an absurd equaliser. The kind of moment that usually sparks madness did not; the men in black ensured as much.

Carlo Ancelotti had said that his team didn't necessarily need to score early, but it couldn't hurt either and Madrid had the ball in the net before this game had even reached two minutes. Kylian Mbappé knew he was offside as he turned it in with his chest and there was no celebration; there was, though, a rise in pitch, in excitement, in belief. Perhaps in fear, too.