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 in front of them either, the fatalism that saw so many others crumble and fall. 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. That kind of moment that usually sparks madness did not; the men in black ensured as much.
Continue reading…
