Both Arsenal and Real Madrid had something to cheer about at the weekend with tonight’s hosts thrashing Liverpool whilst their Spanish opponents overcame Barcelona for the first time in eighteen attempts.

However, on this tense North London night, only one fanbase would depart the Emirates Stadium with a smile on their faces, with the North London outfit turning around a two-goal deficit to book themselves a place in the UWCL semi-finals.

The First Half:

The task for Arsenal was sizeable but certainly not impossible with the Gunners proving this past weekend that they knew how to find the back of the net.

As they were required to, the hosts got off to the faster start with the visitors seemingly content with soaking up the pressure in an effort to defend their two goal lead earned in the reverse fixture.

Despite the Gunners barely allowing their opponents a sight of the halfway line in the opening twenty minutes, there was a distinct lack of clear-cut chances on display.

One talking point of Arsenal’s attack that would prove to be a key topic of the match as a whole was the quality of Chloe Kelly’s delivery.

Kelly was consistently posing a threat to the Madrid defence, as she persisted in firing menacing balls into the box throughout the entirety of the first half.

The concern was that there was very little presence in the box from Arsenal, which meant the majority of Kelly’s crosses did not lead to any end product.

However, it was not just the constant task of defending for Madrid, they did have their occasional foray forward, some of which ended back in the Spaniard’s half, others with the offside flag being raised, none that profited for Alberto Toril’s side.

With the hosts being unable to alter the scoreline in the first half, the mountain, which was already a steep one at kick-off, was starting to look even more of a difficult one to climb.

The Second Half:

If Arsenal wanted to turn this tie around, they would need something close to perfect to pull it off, and this is exactly how their half began.

Less than a minute into the second half, Arsenal broke the deadlock whilst simultaneously halving the deficit on aggregate as Chloe Kelly whipped in another scintillating ball into the box towards Alessia Russo.

The England international came charging into the box, making first contact on the ball and beating Misa Rodríguez in Madrid’s goal and giving her side an invaluable lead.

With all the momentum in their corner now, Arsenal were on the hunt with the equaliser seemingly on the horizon.

The equaliser did arrive for Arsenal and perhaps much sooner than a lot of people would have expected with the crucial moment unfolding only four minutes after the initial goal.

Mariona Caldentey followed up on her screamer at the weekend against Liverpool with a goal that levelled the tie on aggregate once again via a Chloe Kelly cross.

Misa Rodriguez may be asked some questions about the goal as the headed attempt snuck under her and rolled over the line.

In just five minutes, the whole complexion of the tie had changed, the hosts were the ones in charge, and after such a fast start to the second half, a third goal was anticipated soon.

Real Madrid seemingly had not come out of the changing rooms as they looked nothing like the side that took charge of this tie only one week ago.

This match only continued to get worse for Madrid and the group of fans that travelled almost 1,000 miles to back their team on the night.

Only ten minutes after the equaliser, the hosts found themselves in the lead for the first time in the tie, with Alessia Russo securing a brace for herself.

The free kick was delivered, heading in the direction of Steph Catley, who aimed the ball towards Russo, who with an acrobatic finish, blasted the ball straight down the middle, leaving Misa Rodríguez with no chance.

The visitors looked dead and buried, there was very little offered by the Spanish outfit in terms of offence and since the whistle blew for the second half to commence, the defensive display was a disastrous one.

The Emirates erupted once more when they believed Alessia Russo had scored her third, but this joy was short-lived as the semi-automated offside technology soon determined that the striker was in an offside position.

Russo had the ball in the net one last time late on in the match but the goal was once again disallowed this time by the Lineswoman, the decision was then confirmed via the technology.

Real Madrid did give the Gunners a scare in injury time whenever, when Linda Caicedo, who Katie McCabe did well to keep quiet for the majority of the night, broke forward cut inside and pulled the trigger.

Daphne van Domselaar found herself with a rare piece of action to get involved in, which she handled with ease and put the ball out for a corner.

The resulting corner came to nothing for Real Madrid and that was the last piece of threatening play that the visitors could produce.

A jubilant Emirates exploded into cheers as the full-time whistle was blown on a night that sealed another appearance in the UWCL for the Gunners.

What does this mean?:

This night did not unfold as the visitors would have envisioned it. With the uncharted territory of the Champions League semi-finals on the horizon, Madrid could simply not hold their nerve and get this over the line. Their focus on the league will now resume on the league where they find themselves only four points behind Barcelona.

For Arsenal, they will still be fighting on the European front with Lyon being confirmed as their opponent in the semi-finals following their 6-1 aggregate demolition job on Bayern Munich.

Teams and Rating:

Arsenal: D. van Domselaar 6 – K. McCabe 7, S. Catley 6.5, L. Williamson 6.5, E. Fox 6.5, M. Caldentey 7.5, F. Maanum 6 (L. Wälti 75′), K. Little 7 (S. Blackstenius), C. Foord 6.5, A. Russo 9, C. Kelly 8 (B. Mead 74′)

Real Madrid: M. Rodríguez 5 – S. Garcia 6, M. Mendez 5, M. Lakrar 5, Olga 5, S. Toletti 5.5, F. Angeldal 5, C. Weir 5, L. Caicedo 5.5, S. Bruun 5, A. del Castillo 5