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Arsenal welcome Real Madrid to north London this evening for a mouth-watering Champions League quarter-final first leg, as Mikel Arteta’s side look to reach the last four of Europe’s elite competition for the first time since 2009.
Kick-off is at 8 p.m. Moroccam time (GMT+1), and fans can catch the action live on BeIN Sports Arabic, BeIN Sports English, Canal+ Foot, and M+ Liga de Campeones.
The Gunners breezed past PSV Eindhoven 9-3 on aggregate in the last round but head into this tie with several key injuries. Real Madrid, meanwhile, needed penalties to get past city rivals Atlético and come into the tie off the back of a 2-1 defeat to Valencia in La Liga.
Despite domestic setbacks, both sides are expected to field strong line-ups at the Emirates, with plenty of star power on display.
Arsenal will be without Gabriel Magalhaes, Kai Havertz and Gabriel Jesus, while Riccardo Calafiori, Takehiro Tomiyasu and Raheem Sterling also miss out. Bukayo Saka returns to full fitness and is expected to start, with Mikel Merino once again likely to lead the line.
For Madrid, Ferland Mendy, Dani Carvajal and Aurelien Tchouameni are unavailable, but Carlo Ancelotti is expected to start Rodrygo, Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Jr in attack, with Jude Bellingham also set to feature.
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta played down the significance of Madrid’s recent league defeat: “When I analyse Madrid, I do it in the context of where we are going to be. If it benefits us, great, but we always expect the best Madrid.”
On his own side’s chances, he added: “I’m fully convinced we can win. This is where we want to be. The players are convinced too—if I had to convince them, we’d have a problem.”
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti addressed recent criticism: “It could be that many people are tired of seeing me on the bench at Real Madrid, but the most important person is the president, and he supports me — that’s what matters.”
This will be just the third competitive meeting between the two sides. Arsenal edged a famous 1-0 aggregate win over Madrid in the 2005-06 Round of 16, with Thierry Henry scoring the decisive goal at the Bernabéu.
Madrid boast an extraordinary record at this stage of the competition—winning all 12 of their last quarter-final ties, and not losing at this stage since 2004. They have also enjoyed recent success against English opposition, with 11 wins from their last 22 knockout ties against Premier League clubs since 2018.
Predicted Lineups:
Arsenal: David Raya – Jurrien Timber, William Saliba, Jakub Kiwior, Myles Lewis-Skelly – Thomas Partey, Declan Rice – Bukayo Saka, Martin Odegaard, Gabriel Martinelli – Mikel Merino.
Real Madrid: Thibaut Courtois – Federico Valverde, Raul Asencio, Antonio Rüdiger, Fran Garcia – Luka Modrić, Eduardo Camavinga, Jude Bellingham – Rodrygo, Kylian Mbappé, Vinicius Jr.
Score Prediction:
According to the Opta supercomputer, Arsenal have a 41.7% chance of taking a first-leg lead to Spain. Real Madrid’s chances of an away win stand at 31.1%, with a 27.2% likelihood of a draw.
With both sides struggling for consistency in their domestic leagues, and given the attacking talent on display, a high-scoring draw would not surprise.
Verdict: Arsenal 2-2 Real Madrid
