Football | Saka aided by Saka and a generous service of rice, austerity a new generation

Two legs, two wins, and one place in the semi -finals of the UEFA Champions League for the first time since 2009. Five goals were scored, just accepted one and real Madrid, European royalty, silent.

It was coming of age for arsenal, played in high definition with the world watching in amazement.

Real has shown structural weaknesses throughout the season, but irregular pressure and interval holes in the midfield were masked with an array of stars from the moments of individual talent: Antonio Rudigar in front of Kylian Mbappa in front of Kylian Mabappa and in front through Vineasius Junior.

But when the men of Mikel Arteta came to burn in all guns, there was no answer to Real and he was left everything in his own backyard.

And yet, a week ago, it was expected to be a competition between mismatched teams, not on the pitch but in terms of experience. It was covered as a competition among a group of players fighting against Auds for its first major trophy vs. Ek, where the title win has become the second nature to win the title.

Finally, one team played, as if it was in search of numbers, while the other showed that there was more pleasure in advancing memories. And for Arteta, it is an inheritance-mining practice, which was slightly more than five years ago in his arsenal origin.

There is a desire of fans barely for a domestic title and Premier League and European glory. Arsenal came close many times, but it was always braidsmade, never a bride.

While success in the league may have to wait another year, there may be happiness at the continental level.

London’s midfield mestro

In nine sessions as a professional footballer, in 338 matches for Arsenal and West Ham and 64 matches for England, Declan Rice had never found behind the net from free kick. Against Real in Emirates, he broke the duck. And a magician like a magician repeats a trick for good remedies for the audience, he did again after 12 minutes.

Rice had decided to defy the call for a cross of arsenal set-piece coach Nico Jowar, because even in the heat of the moment, he calculated all the possibilities and discovered which step was the maximum XG. Or hence he gave it a voice.

“Originally, we were about to cross it, like the reverse cross. It did not understand from that angle to cross the ball. And they were on a high line, to chip to chip that it would have to be a delicate pass. I thought, go, go for it,” he said after the first leg.

It was not a lucky strike or an unnatural deflection that had done it, but the tricks calculated saw that the ball flight clearly saw the indefinite thibot Courtois. Rather it was appropriate that TV cameras immediately stopped former real and Brazil’s great Roberto Carlos in the crowd, accuracy of such rice twin attacks.

Rice ‘cooked’ twice. And it cannot taste sweet.

Despite the sublime free kick, the best features of 26 years are in midfield, where he harasses opponents and exiting opponents and determines the pace for his team with his drive on the ball.

In the form of the Santiago Burnbuy Stadium, the intimidation aura has emptied the piles of world -class stars, the rice showed that it was a cut over the rest. He provided a shield that kept a rapidly desperate real madrid in the Gulf.

The most moment of the competition, in both legs, when a man of £ 105 million left MBAPPE in a pile on the floor, left the crown of Los Blancos, duly forced his replacement. And as the French found its way out, his team had expectations.

“This is a special night for this club. A historic night. We want to win the competition,” Rice confidently said after winning Madrid. In their current form, many people will not bet all the ways from North London.

A story of Twos

Is the ball being handed over to the pressure punishment with the fate of your team on the line? Bukayo Saka has been there first, as a 19 -year -old, whose lapse Spotkik saw Italy defeated England and won the Euro 2020.

Four years later, he confidently raised the ball again, this time expecting the daylight between arsenal and real Madrid. He noticed that an adventurous panenka chip was easily saved by Cortois, which inspires the upheaval congestion to carry the Spanish crowd to some verses.

Real Madrid goalkeeper Thibut Cortois blocked the shots of Arsenal’s Bukeyo Saka from the penalty spot during the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal second leg at Santiago Burnbuy in Madrid on April 16, 2025. Photo Credit: AFP

“I didn’t want to die, but perhaps I wanted to slap him! He decided, he was bold enough to do so. I was more concerned about the emotional part, what it could do for us,” Arteta later said, after that punishment, talking about their feelings.

Another day, it could have been the turn of another famous real Madrid return, which would have been written on the Gathagit. But it was not regular scheduled programming.

And Saka? He is no longer a disappointed teenager, but a perfectionist who leads for example. When captain Martin Odgard and Mikel Merino jointly combined to leave Saka in the box, they unimpressed – tried another chip, this time by defeating the Cortois and nested on the back of the net.

Spaniards hoped for La Remontada throughout the week, and yet, everyone’s biggest comeback came from Saka. Or his left boot, to be accurate.

The 23 -year -old commented after winning with a smile, “We saw all the items going on social media, saying that they were about to come back … but we are capable of showing our mindset. We should be proud.”

the future is now

Over the years, when Arsenal struggled to compete with the financial strength of Manchester City or the ease of liverpool domesticly, Saka offered fans a bright future hope. The broad win against real Madrid has underlined that the future is now and it was well worth waiting.

“This is another huge step. The way we have done it, it is incredible,” Artata said after the game. His counterpart, Carlo Anseloti, admitted that real Madrid was the second best on both legs. “There is no excuse. In two sports, they were better than us. We did everything we could do.”

The most striking image from this competition will remain Saka, who silenced the crowd of burnbuy, Thierry Henry did the same after 19 years. Almost like a tradition, a seminal moment whose details will pass from one generation to another.

Finally, arsenal’s victory was a victory of the system over the individual power, completely more than the sum of its parts. This resolution, road-smart and well-dried team, first affects fear in their opponents, since the first Invineables.

This will go down as the biggest night of arsenal in the Champions League. For now.