Bukayo Saka and Declan Rice of Arsenal (Photo by Angel Martinez, Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Arsenal duo Declan Rice and Bukayo Saka have both aimed sly digs at Real Madrid for talking up their chances of a comeback in the Champions League last night.
The Gunners went to the Bernabeu with a 3-0 lead from the first leg of this quarter-final tie, but even then there was plenty of talk on social media in particular about Real Madrid pulling off a remarkable comeback, or ‘remontada’.
As quoted by the Guardian, Real Madrid midfielder Jude Bellingham said he’d heard the word ‘remontada’ a lot since the 3-0 defeat at the Emirates Stadium.
There was clearly huge belief in the Madrid dressing room that they could turn this tie around, but Arsenal did the job and won 2-1 last night, and 5-1 on aggregate.
It seems Rice and Saka were not too impressed by this apparent campaign of talking up Los Blancos’ chances…
??? Declan Rice: “We knew we were going to win”.
“There was a lot of talking coming here about Real Madrid coming back because they’ve done it so many times before but we had enough belief and confidence from the first leg that we had enough to come here”. pic.twitter.com/WWgsX83GhS
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) April 17, 2025
As quoted by Fabrizio Romano in the post on X above, Rice said there was “a lot of talk” before the game, but he and his teammates always felt they would win.
Meanwhile, Romano also quoted Saka as referencing all the “stuff” on social media that went on before the game…
??? Bukayo Saka: “We saw all the stuff that was going on social media, saying they were going to come back… but we’ve been able to show our mentality”.
“We should be proud”, told CBS. pic.twitter.com/RofVyvEnQq
— Fabrizio Romano (@FabrizioRomano) April 17, 2025
Arsenal make a statement with emphatic Real Madrid win
It might have come across as arrogant from Real, but when you have a record like theirs in this competition, that’s perhaps to be expected.
Arsenal did well to keep their cool and get on with the game, and they were fully deserving winners of the tie overall.
Mikel Arteta’s side will now take on Paris Saint-Germain in the semi-finals of the Champions League, as they look to make only their second ever appearance in the final of the competition.
The way they played against Carlo Ancelotti’s holders, Arsenal will perhaps have the growing feeling that they can actually go all the way and finally win this trophy.
