Arsenal vs Real Madrid Preview

Arsenal and Real Madrid will meet this Tuesday at the Emirates Stadium in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie.

The Gunners are looking to salvage a disappointing season by making progress in this tournament. Mikel Arteta’s side come into this tie after another slip-up in the Premier League at the weekend, meaning that their only realistic chance of silverware this season comes in the Champions League.

This is Arsenal’s second consecutive quarter-final appearance. According to Opta, they are surprisingly slight favourites to progress past reigning champions Real Madrid despite their return of just two wins from eight ties at this stage of the competition (L6). Their favourites tag comes in part due to their strong Champions League form at the Emirates Stadium, where Arteta’s men remain unbeaten since returning to the competition last season (W8, D2). The London club have also won five of their last seven matches against Spanish opposition (D1, L1) and emerged victorious from their only previous tie against Madrid in 2005/06 (W1, D1).

They could now become just the second English side to avoid defeat in each of their first three H2Hs against Los Blancos in this competition.

Meanwhile, Real travel to London on the back of a shock 2-1 home defeat to Valencia on Saturday which puts their La Liga title defence in jeopardy. The Champions League is truly where Carlo Ancelotti’s men come alive though, with this their 23rd different H2H against Premier League opposition since the start of 2017/18 (W11, D5, L6), with two of those wins coming against Manchester City earlier this season.

Los Blancos – who have progressed from each of their last 12 Champions League quarter-finals – have won their last three European away matches outside of Madrid, scoring exactly three goals each time. They have also avoided defeat in the first leg of each of their last eight knockout ties in this competition (W5, D3). However, their joint-longest such run will certainly come under threat here as Madrid’s last three Champions League eliminations came at the hands of English opponents.