Gabriel Martinelli’s late winner at the Santiago Bernabéu sealed a two-legged victory for Arsenal, completing a stunning elimination of Real Madrid from the UEFA Champions League.

Real Madrid had launched a “Remontada” campaign in the days leading up to the match, boasting of a possible comeback. The club backed its fans and even showed motivational videos of past comebacks to the players and coaching staff. But when it came time to deliver on the pitch, the players failed woefully.

Arsenal dominated the first half, with Real Madrid failing to register a single shot on target. The Gunners were awarded a penalty in the 13^th minute, but Bukayo Saka played an awful Panenka. However, he made amends in the second half with a beautiful chip over Thibaut Courtois in the 65^th minute.

Two minutes later, Vinícius Jr. Capitalized on a dreadful mistake by William Saliba to equalize on the night, but with Arsenal leading 4-1 on aggregate, Los Blancos still had a difficult mountain to climb.

Madrid struggled to pick any motivation from the goal.  They lacked creativity and couldn’t penetrate Arsenal’s defence. As the match reached the 90^th minute mark , the voices of Arsenal fans echoed through the Bernabéu, singing, “You’ve only come to see The Arsenal.” It was then that the reality began to sink in for Madrid’s players and fans — there would be no Remontada.

 Martinelli’s goal in the closing stages made it 2-1 on the night and 5-1 on aggregate. It was  one of the most humiliating exits in Real Madrid’s Champions League history. After all the campaigns and build up to the match the players ended up being shambolic.

Arsenal will take great pride in their performance against the 15-time Champions League winners and will now look to replicate this form in the semi-final against French side Paris Saint-Germain, who have already eliminated two English teams in this year’s competition.