Arsenal face a tough test against Champions League titans Real Madrid — but have a unique advantage | OneFootball

Mikel Arteta has been using a lot of his little tricks to relay key messages at the Arsenal training ground this week, but there’s one that his staff have especially drilled in during training. That is to not make mistakes, especially in midfield.

This isn’t out of any fear or conservatism about the stakes of the game. It is specific to the opposition, and how they play. Real Madrid often win games where they look like they are on the ropes because they actively want you to have the ball, and then pounce in midfield any time you give it up. They’re of course fully confident they have the forwards to maximise that. Arteta has consequently been conscious of not making unnecessary errors, and also figuring out how to block those lethal transitions.

Madrid obviously have this famous aura in the Champions League, so the point is to see them as a team, with flaws, and not some metaphysical entity. There’s then the other side of that: to seize any opportunity.

That plays into a genuine thrill around the squad, who have a buzz around this game. There is belief, and a sense of occasion. Arteta radiated that as he spoke about the build-up.

“It’s a joy to prepare the game, to look at them, just to look at the reaction of people and how we feel about ourselves coming into a game of this magnitude. The excitement around the club, the people, this is the stage we want to be.”

Arteta did mention how “it’s 20 years since we had this type of game”, which is maybe a little harsh on Bayern Munich and Arsenal’s quarter-final last year. That is understandable. Bayern are big but there’s no one bigger than Madrid. Arteta described the reigning champions as “the kings of the competition”, “a club that has set new standards in world football”.

There’s then the meaning to Arsenal’s season. It’s arguably fitting that they face opposition of this grandeur in a game of this scale. Last season, after all, the Bayern quarter-final was offset by the fact the main ambition was the Premier League.

This season, with second secured and the title challenge dissipating amid injuries, it’s all about the Champions League. This is the great ambition, that can reframe the entire campaign. It’s about becoming European champions for the first time. There’s no better test than the club who have been European champions more than anybody.

In a little interlude that evoked Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, Arteta also spoke about how Arsenal’s Champions League record is not what it should be. They are probably the “biggest” club never to win it. Paris Saint-Germain may have more money through Qatari ownership, sure, but they don’t have Arsenal’s international fanbase or size.

Even aside from the absence of a trophy, though, the London club’s very record should be better. They have only reached the semi-finals twice, in 2006 and 2009. Most of their league titles came before the European Cup even existed and most of Arsene Wenger’s years in the competition came when they were past the best of the 2003-04 Invincibles. That quarter-final elimination to Chelsea remains the great lost opportunity.

“It's a competition that we've been waiting for for many, many years,” Arteta said. “The fact that we've only been twice at this stage in 15 years with the size of Arsenal and the difficulty of that. We're going to create our own story and go even further.”

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The mood is bright in the Arsenal camp (Getty Images)

Arteta did point to how the Bayern defeat was valuable in that sense. “Building those experiences is something necessary, that's why I said that we have to build our own story. There's a massive gap there of so many years when nothing has happened in this football club in relation to European competitions. We need to change that and we need to change that quickly.”

Even with all of Madrid’s experience, though, this tie offers something even they are not accustomed to. Unlike almost everyone in Champions League history, Arsenal haven’t had the opportunity to develop any kind of complex about the 15-times winners, because they have only played them once. Arsenal also beat them, and the memories of that 2005-06 game are another element that has elevated the mood. Bukayo Saka sat up as he spoke about Thierry Henry, who got the only goal of the tie by weaving through Madrid’s defence.

Arteta was keen to point out that that 1-0 aggregate win was “too far away to be very relevant”, and he’s of course right. It has no influence in a purely football perspective. But such historic matches can shape an occasion.

As intangible and airy as it all sounds, one of the reasons that some sides lose to Madrid when they shouldn’t is because they know what’s coming. They know Madrid will go for it, with the Spanish side’s confidence in that transformed into ultra-assertiveness by the knowledge they’ve done it before as well as the crowd’s anticipation that they always do it. This surrounds every occasion. There’s little if any doubt around their games, which in turn creates doubt in the opposition. It’s how the intangible becomes tangible.

Madrid have done it to everyone, to every single club that is right behind them in the winners’ pantheon: Milan, Bayern Munich, Liverpool, Ajax, Manchester United…

But they haven’t done it to Arsenal. Arteta’s club have no institutional memory of this. There is a novelty there.

For all the talk of intangibles and potential narratives that invigorates the build-up to ties like this, though, there is still a brutal reality. Real Madrid are a better side, and have more of their best players fit. Some of them, like Kylian Mbappe and Vinicius Junior, are also the best attackers in the world.

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Los Blancos suffered a surprise late 2-1 defeat to Valencia in La Liga on Saturday (Getty Images)

They would be facing one of the best defences in the world, except that’s where there’s another twist. Against all that, Arteta has Saka still getting fit, and will miss two pillars at opposite ends of the team in Kai Havertz and Gabriel. That is a big ask, especially with Riccardo Calafiori not fit.

Arteta was still coy about that, only saying he has decided what he’ll do, to keep Madrid second-guessing. That’s part of the game, though.

Arteta’s job now is to distort that reality, to level things up. Maybe Jakub Kiwior can be a modern equivalent of 2005-06 Philippe Senderos. There may be a few other factors. Arteta pointed to how Arsenal’s difficulties can now be a “super strength” in games like this, since they are here. They have shown a resilience that can trouble Madrid. Carlo Ancelotti’s side similarly lost 2-1 to Valencia in the 95th minute on Saturday, having had to chase two games in the previous week, all while conceding eight goals. They have been suffering from this season’s congested calendar as much as anyone, having already endured an injury crisis of their own. One view in Spain is that they’re “there for the taking”.

Except, many have thought that in the Champions League, only for Madrid to come alive when it matters.

That is why Arteta is so conscious of not giving them those opportunities to do so, and why those specific tactics are so important. It might actually make for a less open game, but one that will be enlivened by the exquisite tension around such occasions.

“That’s why I came into football,” Arteta said. “Eleven players, 60,000 people need to be really super-convinced that we are ready to win and to beat them. That is the mindset that I want.”