Arteta Explains How Madrid Could Play Into Arsenal’s Hands Ahead of Crucial UCL Tie
by by Elijah Odetokun · Legit.ng News · Join- Real Madrid and Arsenal will clash in the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second-leg tie
- The Gunners beat Madrid 3-0 in the first leg at the Emirates Stadium thanks to Declan Rice’s free kicks
- Head coach Mikel Arteta has explained how the Spanish club could play into their hands at the Bernabeu
Mikel Arteta has disclosed where Real Madrid could cede their advantage to Arsenal in the second leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final tie tomorrow.
Arsenal have one leg in the semi-final after beating Real Madrid 3-0 in the first leg at the Emirates Stadium and could progress to the next round if they stop their opponents from scoring.
Madrid, on the other hand, have been going through different strategies to stage a big comeback at Estadio Santiago Bernabeu, as they look to regain the trophy.
Arteta sends message to Madrid
Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta addressed the press ahead of the game tomorrow in Spain and noted where Madrid could make it easy for his side despite their preparations.
“If we have a positive move and they [Madrid] feel frustrated, then the game would be much closer than we want it to be,” he said, as quoted by Football London.
“In the end, the context of the result of the game cannot change that much as you have said the game will be in the opposite direction.”
He admitted that he is pleased with where his team is at in terms of the aggregate score, and he is focused on studying them for the second leg, which he believes will help them progress.
“We try to understand what the opponent wants to do. The better we do that the closer we are to the semi-finals. We want to be better than them and be in the semi-final,” he added.
Bellingham reveals Madrid's motivation
Madrid are the biggest club in the Champions League history, and if any team is capable of turning the tie around, it is Madrid.
Jude Bellingham believes the number of times he has heard the word “remontada”, which literally means turnaround, is enough to motivate the team to victory against Arsenal.
“The most repeated word in the dressing room is remontada (comeback),” he said, as quoted by Managing Madrid.
“I’ve heard it about a million times in the last week. This motivates us a lot. It’s a night that is tailor-made for Real Madrid. I don’t think we can add anything more special to that.”
The English midfielder confirmed the reported training ground bust-up between him and German midfielder Antonio Rudiger, admitting they are normal things that happen in football.
He described it as “emotions run high” but downplayed the severity, claiming the media gave it more importance.
4 Biggest Champions League comebacks
Legit.ng analysed some of the biggest Champions League comebacks as Real Madrid face a difficult but not impossible task of turning around a 3-0 loss to Arsenal.
The biggest first-leg tie turned around was Barcelona overturning a 4-0 loss against Paris Saint-Germain in 2017, winning 6-1 to achieve the historic feat.