If Actual Madrid followers could have loved their victory over Manchester Metropolis within the Champions League play-off spherical slightly bit extra because of the hyperlinks between Pep Guardiola and Barcelona, the Catalan coach might need loved his glass of wine slightly extra on Tuesday night time whereas viewing Arsenal’s win over Los Blancos. The Gunners will take a three-goal benefit to the Santiago Bernabeu subsequent week, the place they need to attempt to keep away from one among Actual Madrid’s well-known comebacks.
Arsenal supervisor Mikel Arteta revealed after the sport that Guardiola had his personal half to play in defeat for Actual Madrid too. The previous Everton man was an assistant alongside Guardiola for a number of years at Manchester Metropolis earlier than taking up as Arsenal coach, and spoke to his former boss about enjoying Los Blancos.
“We spoke with Pep (Guardiola) a number of days in the past and I needed to ask him for some recommendation. It’s essential to study from the perfect,” Arteta advised Sport after the sport.
The Basque coach went on to name it an historic night time, however was eager to not get overexcited forward of the second leg.
“Whenever you haven’t performed towards Actual Madrid in 20 years and haven’t made a future within the Champions League, you need to make historical past. These followers will keep in mind it for a very long time.”
“They (the followers) loved it, however we now have time to organize for the large problem. The gamers are full of pleasure. It’s a part of their historical past. We’re clear concerning the efficiency we performed, however we’ll speak concerning the recreation we now have to play in Madrid.”
Then again, there’s an argument, with out taking any credit score away from Arsenal, that this was par for the course towards Los Blancos’ defence of late. Mikel Merino’s third aim on Tuesday night time made it 11 targets conceded in Actual Madrid’s final 4 video games, and stretched it to a run of simply two clear sheets in 17 outings.