French international Eduardo Camavinga will miss the return leg of the UEFA Champions League Quarterfinals next week at the Santiago Bernabéu against Arsenal. The midfielder received a yellow card in the play leading up to Arsenal’s second goal, and due to accumulation of yellow cards, he will be unavailable for the return leg in Madrid.

How the Match Unfolded

For days, everyone had been talking about how set pieces would be key in this tie, and Real Madrid found out first-hand why there was so much hype about it. Declan Rice, with his first two career direct free-kick goals, and Mikel Merino, with a powerful strike, knocked out the white team and put the European champions with one foot out of the semifinals. It would take a miracle—perhaps the biggest one yet—for Real Madrid to advance to the next round.

The Great Night for Arsenal

In a second half full of brilliance and ecstasy in London, the 'Gunners' achieved the prize they’ve been chasing for years: to feel like giants in Europe, a historical gap and thorn in their side. They started by raising a banner for Thierry Henry, who scored the goal in the only Champions League tie between these two teams, and ended up dancing around Real Madrid and Carlo Ancelotti, who were devastated in a way not seen since Manchester City hammered them 4-0 at the Etihad Stadium two years ago.

But this time, it hurt more. It wasn’t a City on their way to a treble that scored, it was a team without several of their best players, without a title in almost five years, and without the experience of the Madrid players at this stage.

Real Madrid Crumbles

Despite having several key absences, Arsenal played with more belief and hunger for a night like this, against a Real Madrid that seemed complacent, thinking that somehow the tide would turn in their favor. They were content with going for a draw, hoping that a counter-attack would save them thanks to the individual brilliance of their players, but instead, they were hit with three blows in the second half.

The story could have been different if Kylian Mbappé had converted his one-on-one that David Raya denied him in the first half, but as has often happened this season, Real Madrid missed their chances and, like it did against Barcelona, they paid the price.

Nicolas Jover, the renowned strategist from Arsenal, instructed Rice, who had never scored a direct free-kick in over 300 matches, to aim for the gap in Real Madrid’s poorly positioned wall, thanks to Courtois’s poor placement. With a beautiful curl, the Englishman got the ball past the four men in the Madrid wall and it sailed away from the Belgian goalkeeper.

That was the first direct free-kick goal in Arsenal’s history in the knockout stages of the Champions League. What a moment. And what a moment for the second one to arrive. Twelve minutes later, once again with Rice as the star, Arsenal struck the second blow.

This time, there could be no complaints about the wall. Rice placed the ball perfectly into the top corner. It was an unstoppable goal, worthy of the best Juninho Pernambucano. A masterpiece that made the long wait for moments like this for all of Arsenal worth it. Despite Courtois, Alaba, and Bellingham saving the day on the goal line to prevent it from getting worse, Real Madrid was fading, as if it were prey about to be destroyed, with Rice’s strikes breaking apart the cracks.

The 3-0, a precise strike by Mikel Merino full of quality, confirmed that Real Madrid is in trouble. Whether it's in La Liga against Valencia or in Champions League against Arsenal, it’s not just about motivation—the white team is down, and Arsenal took full advantage to achieve their best European night in many, many years. Now, Real Madrid is holding on to a frustrated Bernabéu and a miracle that, like so many times before, seems impossible. And one of these times, it really has to be impossible.