Real Madrid – Arsenal

Arsenal will contain their opponents’ attacking power in a not-so-productive encounter

The result of the London match between Arsenal and Real Madrid shocked the European football community and allowed Arsenal to enter the top 3 of the Champions League favourites along with PSG and Barcelona. The first half passed with a slight territorial advantage. Arsenal created a few clear goalscoring chances but Courtois was impenetrable. The second half also started with the activity of the London club, but no one even suspected that it would end in a rout. Declan Rice left no chance for the Belgian goalkeeper with two phenomenal free-kicks in the 58th and 70th minutes, and in the 75th minute Merino put the match to bed - 3:0. Of course, when it comes to the most titled club in the history of the Champions League and its reigning winner, one should not write off the Royal Club even after a crushing defeat. In this regard, the bookmakers rate their chances of winning the trophy higher than those of Aston Villa, who lost 1-3 to PSG in Paris. It is Real Madrid who are determined favourites to win the upcoming encounter, for which odds of 1.66 are offered. Real Madrid suffered their third consecutive defeat at the Emirates. In between matches with the London club, the Creamers will play a league meeting with Alaves on Sunday. As of Sunday morning, Barcelona had won their match of the 31st round. This allowed the Catalans to increase the distance from Real Madrid to a threatening seven points. Madrid have very high opportunities for high-speed counterattacks. Mbappe and Vinicius, who can create chances themselves, find it easier to play with space. Arsenal will not give that to their opponents in the return leg. There are serious doubts that in a positional attack, the Cream are capable of levelling the difference of three goals. Arsenal emphasised the importance of the upcoming clash in Madrid on Saturday with a limited-overs game against Brentford in the English league. The second place of the Premier League, apparently, will not go anywhere from the "canoniers", so the priorities of Arteta and his wards are quite obvious. Let's bet that the rivals will not score more than three goals between them.