Arsenal v Real Madrid LIVE: Score and latest updates from Champions League quarter-final – UK Times

Both teams are in the tunnel at the Emirates, so we’re around five minutes from kick-off.

The Emirates will be hearing the Champions League anthem again soon as it prepares for one of the biggest game it’s witnessed.

The man to hurt Arsenal today?

Or could Bukayo Saka have a career-defining night in the Champions League?

Arsenal rank first in the UEFA Champions League this season for xG against per game (0.88), while only Internazionale (0.2) have conceded fewer goals per game (0.6).

But how will the Gunners fare without Gabriel? We’ll find out soon.

With regards to form, here’s a list of the last six results for both sides:

• Real Madrid 1-2 Valencia
• Real Madrid 4-4 Real Sociedad
• Real Madrid 3-2 Leganes
• Villarreal 1-2 Real Madrid
• Atletico Madrid 1-0 Real Madrid (Real Madrid won 4-2 on penalties)
• Real Madrid 2-1 Rayo Vallecano

• Everton 1-1 Arsenal
• Arsenal 2-1 Fulham
• Arsenal 1-0 Chelsea
• Arsenal 2-2 PSV Eindhoven
• Manchester United 1-1 Arsenal
• PSV Eindhoven 1-7 Arsenal

Fairly mixed in both cases!

Madrid haven’t lost the first leg in any of their last eight knockout stage ties in the UEFA Champions League (W5 D3); their joint-longest run in the competition in first leg meetings, along with another eight-game run between April 2016 and February 2019.

In recent seasons, Los Blancos have made a habit out of grabbing results when they haven’t necessarily been the better team in this competition, from the 2022 final against Liverpool to last season’s semi-final second leg against Bayern Munich.

And yet again a big Champions League tie looms with neutrals once again unsure what to expect from an undeniably talented Madrid side.

Carlo Ancelotti’s side lost to Valencia at home last weekend, thought they blew Manchester City away in the play-offs before a more even tie against Atletico in the last round.

What is certain is that they’re a side that can blow teams away and completely turn a game within a few minutes, but in truth nobody knows quite how good this new-look Madrid is…yet.

This will be just the third meeting between Arsenal and Real Madrid in European competition, following their last 16 tie in the UEFA Champions League in 2005-06. Arsenal won 1-0 in the first leg away from home, before drawing 0-0 at Highbury in the second leg (1-0 on aggregate).

Since the start of the 2017-18 campaign, Real Madrid have played 22 matches against English sides in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League (W11 D5 L6). This is 10 more than any other team against sides from a specific nation in this period, after Liverpool and Manchester City’s 12 meetings each with Spanish teams.

There’s not a lot to re-visit between these two sides, but there is one particularly famous meeting – when Arsenal became the first English side to beat Los Blancos at the Bernabeu in 2006.

The match was the first leg of the teams’ last-16 tie and the first ever time that these two clubs had met in European competition.

Madrid were coming towards the end of their Galacticos era though many of the big names remained at the club, including Ronaldo Nazario, Zinedine Zidane, Robert Carlos and David Beckham.

But Arsenal had plenty of soon-to-be legends in their own eleven, including a young Cesc Fabregas, Jose Antonio Reyes, Alexander Hleb and the night’s matchwinner, Thierry Henry.

The mercurial Frenchman struck not long after half-time to give Arsenal the win that would eventually see them progress into the next round after a 0-0 draw at Highbury.

Picking the ball up near the centre-circle, he skipped past a challenge from Ronaldo and knocked the ball in between a flailing Alvaro Meijia and Guti, before easily outpacing Sergio Ramos and beating Iker Casillas with a low finish across the Spaniard.

Quite miraculously, this will be just the third official competitive meeting between these two sides.

Arsenal are one of few clubs to have a winning record against Los Blancos, having won one and drawn one of their previous two meetings.

These came in the round of 16 in 2005/06 – the year Arsenal made the final but were beaten by Barcelona.

A draw at Highbury in the second leg sent Arsenal through to the next round, though the tie is remembered for the Gunners’ famous 1-0 win at the Bernabeu, when a Thierry Henry goal gave Arsene Wenger’s side a win over a team that included Roberto Carlos, David Beckham, Guti, Zinedine Zidane and Ronaldo Nazario.

Mikel Arteta has made six changes to the side that drew 1-1 with Everton at the weekend. There is only one in defence, as Ben White drops out for Jurrien Timber.

In midfield, Jorginho is replaced by Martin Odegaard, while Mikel Merino moves upfront in place of Leandro Trossard, who moves to the bench as Thomas Partey returns to the starting eleven.

In attack, Ethan Nwaneri is replaced by Bukayo Saka, while Gabriel Martinelli is favoured over Raheem Sterling.