Arsenal cruise past lacklustre Real Madrid to reach semis

MADRID :Arsenal snuffed out any chance of a famous Real Madrid comeback to reach the Champions League semi-finals after a 2-1 victory in the Bernabeu Stadium completed a 5-1 aggregate win on Wednesday.

Holders and 15-times winners Real never looked like clawing back a 3-0 deficit from last week's quarter-final first leg and when Bukayo Saka scored for the visitors in the 65th minute their fate was effectively sealed.

Vinicius Junior seized on a rare defensive slip a couple of minutes later to rouse the home crowd, but it proved too little too late as Carlo Ancelotti's side exited in feeble fashion.

Arsenal's superiority over the two legs was underlined in stoppage time as Gabriel Martinelli burst through to score.

They will face Paris St Germain in their first Champions League semi-final since 2009.

"I think it's such a special night for this club, it's a historic night for this club," said Arsenal's Declan Rice, whose two sublime free kicks last week put his side in control.

"There was a lot of talk coming in about them coming back from the dead, they've done it so many times before. But we had so much belief and confidence from that first leg that we had enough to come here and win the game."

A cacophony of noise greeted kickoff with the home fans fuelled by the hope of witnessing what would have been one of the greatest Champions League comebacks.

PENALTY MISS

They were silenced almost immediately though as Arsenal were handed the opportunity to kill the tie when Raul Asencio needlessly hauled down Mikel Merino from a corner and referee Francois Letexier eventually awarded a penalty after checking a pitch-side VAR monitor.

Saka opted for a Panenka-style chipped penalty though and Real keeper Thibaut Courtois clawed away the