For any Arsenal fans who aren’t quite finished revelling in the win over Real Madrid this week, a read of Marca will provide particularly enjoyable reading.
The Spanish press has not gone easy on Carlo Ancelotti’s side after Arsenal’s win at the Bernabeu, with questions being asked left, right and centre about what went wrong.
Marca believe it wasn’t anything to complicated and instead look at the ‘three simple things’ that were the difference and the ‘lesson taught by Arsenal’ as a result.
They say that Mikel Arteta’s team ‘worked conscientiously’ in the game and so beat Madrid with things ‘so simple that it was surprising Madid weren’t aware of them.
While the newspaper argues there is ‘no possible excuse’ for the elimination, the fact is that there were three clear areas that Arsenal were better than them.
The first of these was the ‘work’ of their star players, with Bukayo Saka, Gabriel Martinelli and Mikel Merino showing that it was possible to ‘attack and fulfil their defensive duties’. This was not something Real Madrid’s superstars did and sometimes seem unwilling to do.
They then praise Arsenal’s willingness to use their youngsters as the second point. Miles Lewis-Skelly is the perfect example of this, as he shone at the Bernabeu despite being just 18 years old. His performance was ‘worthy of study’ and leads the newspaper to question why Real Madrid don’t’ have any youngsters like him ready to step up and be used.
The third and final ‘simple thing’ is ‘a lack of football and desire’, something that they think Arsenal had in abundance and Madrid did not.
The Spanish side particularly missed a midfield controller, but Madrid ‘lacked game’ in general and that allowed Arsenal to control things. Marca even believe they could have scored more if they needed to but ultimately, they didn’t so, they didn’t.