Rice stars as Arsenal lay waste to ghosts of Madrid

This is the European pedigree that Mikel Arteta desired, and a victory to go down in Arsenal history.

- MIGUEL DELANEY

For now... But with the promise of more. Arteta had said his club needed to “create our own story” before this 3-0 evisceration of Real Madrid – a sentence that almost warrants repeating – and this was far more than just that. It was an epic.

They now need to finish that story, both at the Bernabeu next week and maybe even by lifting the Champions League trophy for the first time at the end of next month. There should be no doubt about their capabilities after a victory like this.

Madrid were subjected to the kind of humiliation that many had long suspected was possible from so many campaigns, but that so few teams have been able to do. Arsenal managed it, fully displaying the conviction that Arteta has instilled in this burgeoning side.

The odd thing was, it could have been even worse for Madrid had it not been for Thibaut Courtois, and yet the goalkeeper could be construed as culpable for both of the first two goals. That is perhaps harsh given the sheer quality of Declan Rice’s strikes in his sensational free kicks, before Mikel Merino gave Arsenal the kind of scoreline their performance deserved.

Arsenal didn't just brutalise Madrid, though. They outsmarted them, which is arguably the deeper story of this sensational victory.

Arteta had more injuries and a squad that lacked both the depth and the stars of their Spanish opponents, but you wouldn’t have thought that judging from this rout. That came from the intelligence about how to approach the challenge. They were cannier, Arteta’s pre-match gameplan paying off as they simply didn’t make the kind of mistakes that Madrid usually depend on.