Arsenal vs. Real Madrid Tactical Analysis

How the Gunners dominated the 15 time champions

Arsenal had high hopes coming into this match with the Champions League being their last chance at silverware in 2025. It wouldn’t be easy having the take on the defending champions and the most talented team in the world, but after a pair of perfect freekicks by Declan Rice and a great finish by Merino, the Gunner are taking a 3-0 advantage to the Santiago Bernabéu.

Let’s take a deeper look at how dominant Arsenal was.

Starting XIs

image via FotMob

A pretty standard starting XI for Arsenal, but Real Madrid had a couple of guys playing in different positions with Alaba going back to left back from centerback, which is a position that he played for most of his career and Valverde slotting in at right back.

First Half

One aspect that was clear early on was Arsenal was taking some concepts from what Manchester City tried to do against Real Madrid earlier in the Champions League knockout stage. By trying to create a five man overload in the middle, they essentially forced Real Madrid to play incredibly narrow.

Arsenal was trying to do this, but early on it was keep Bellingham tucked inside to isolate Bakayo Saka in a lot of space 1 v 1 against David Alaba.

This is going to be a running theme throughout the match, but Arsenal’s transition defense was outstanding at limiting Real Madrid’s front three from really doing anything.

Just look at how many guys sprint back after Real Madrid tries to break from one of Arsenal’s corners.

Arsenal’s build up dropping Odegaard and Merino into the half spaces was asking a lot of questions of Real Madrid. Like I mentioned above, Arsenal’s overload was causing them to stay very narrow.

As you can see here Arsenal have a 3 v 2 overload against Real Madrid’s front two and then through the second phase a 5 v 4 with Real Madrid’s centerbacks not jumping up to reduce that space inbetween the lines.

Real Madrid was trying to control possession early, but weren’t really trying to play through the middle and instead were trying to crate wide overloads.

Here you can see Bellingham and Camavinga drift over to the right hand side to try and create an overload.

However, Real Madrid really couldn’t easily find a way through out wide.

Arsenal’s fluid rotations can be so difficult to defend against and they were taking advantage of Vinicius Jr. not doing much defensive work.

There was a lot of pressure on Bellingham to not only mark Odegaard, but help Alaba with Saka.

Here Odegaard and Timber switch positions, Saka tucks inside and it creates a 3 v 2 overload out wide.

I also want to highlight just how important it is for Arsenal to get Saka 1 v 1 as often as possible. It was difficult for most of the match to get him enough space, but one of Arsenal’s most dangerous chances of the match came when he was 1 v 1 against Bellingham, beat him to the byline and fizzed a cross right across the six yard box.

Second Half

One thing I want to highlight is Arsenal’s press, which consistently was forcing Real Madrid to go long. The problem with doing that was Real Madrid’s forwards were not winning aerial duels or second balls.

A lot of times, they weren’t even attempted to try and win an aerial duel.

Real Madrid started dropping Kylian Mbappe in centrally to try and get him on the ball, while Jude Bellingham pushed up to the last line of defense.

Arsenal were continuing to tilt the field on Real Madrid in the second half. Then Declan Rice pulled off one of the best free kicks you’ll ever see.

After the goal, Bellingham started to push up to the last line of defense to help aid in the attack instead of operating in a double pivot with Camavinga like he did in the first half.

Arsenal kept the pressure on and then Thibaut Courtois pulled off an incredible triple save to keep Real Madrid in the tie for the moment.

Just when you think the impossible has already happened, Declan Rice did it again.

What is even crazier is that Arsenal hasn’t scored a direct freekick since 2021 and Declan Rice has never scored one in his career before tonight.

image via afcstuff on X

The third Arsenal goal was good lesson in the importance of playing through the middle. Merino drops in space, which forces Rodrygo to stay narrow.

That gives Declan Rice acres of space to run into.

The Real Madrid defensive line gets a tad low, which allows Lewis-Skelly to find Merino, who puts it in the back of the net.

Conclusion

While the Declan Rice freekicks were pure magic, what gets lost in all of this is just how good Arsenal was defensively. The Gunners made a few mistakes that led to some of Real Madrid’s best chances, but they completely controlled the match both in and out of possession in the second half.

One of the best attacking teams in the world, that was trailing for most of the second half was only able muster up this for the final 45 minutes. That is how good Arsenal was defensively.

image via fbref.com

While the Arsenal press was effective in forcing Real Madrid to go long, when the Gunners sat in their 4-4-2 low block, Real Madrid really had no answers on how to break them down.

That will be a key heading into the second leg because unless Ancelotti finds some answers to that question, Arsenal are headed to the semifinals.